How to Increase Reading Comprehension in Children

Have you ever asked your child to tell you what they read only to watch them stare back at you? Improving your child's reading comprehension starts with focusing on teaching them intensive phonics. Think about it! Each letter makes a sound. The sounds put together create words. The words have meaning. Put together they have something to say. That's it!

Increase Reading Comprehension Using Intensive Phonics

There are about 44 sounds that make up the million words used in English. Focus on learning the phonics rules that make up the 44 sounds. This is the first step to improving comprehension. One important rule most children have not been taught is the C Rule. Find a word with C in it. Does it have an e, i, or y after it? Then the c copies s otherwise it copies k. This rule is true 99% of the time. Cent, city and cyst fit the rule - c copies s. In words such as: cab, cot, and crib the c copies k.

Increase Reading Comprehension Sentence by Sentence

After your child has learned several phonics rules, it's time to focus on having your child comprehend what they read. Improving comprehension requires that you slow down. Find a passage, book, or magazine article at or below your child's reading level. He should be able to read almost all of the words. Have your child read each sentence, look up and away from the sentence and restate what they have read. You can also cover the sentence with a piece of paper or envelope. Even if, in the beginning, he repeats the sentence word for word, that's okay. After each paragraph, have him restate the whole paragraph. This will help him comprehend what he's read.

I know it sounds simple. It is! And you don't need to do it every day. And you don't need to do this for everything he reads. Do this activity for 20 minutes, two to four times per week. This will retrain his brain to think while he is reading. If you can find stories with comprehension questions at the end of the story, then have him answer those questions after he has read and restated each sentence and paragraph.

Here's a summary of the steps to improve comprehension.

1. Teach the phonics rules that make up the 44 sounds.

2. After your child reads each sentence, have him restate each one.

3. Child restates each paragraph.

4. If you have a passage with questions at the end, have your child answer the questions.

This plan will help your child increase their reading comprehension and have more fun reading.