What is it?

Reading is the ability to decode written symbols and signs and understand the meaning and to be able to co-ordinate these skills together in order to read fluently. Writing is being able to write letters or symbols down which represent sounds or words of language and to be able to link together written words into logical and meaningful language.

Why is it important?

Reading is an important skill needed to achieve academic success at school and university but is also important in daily life. A lot of information available to us is through written mode (e.g. Newspapers, books, internet articles, signs, etc.). In order to have access to this information a person needs to be able to read.

Reading also aids in the development of language it exposes children to new vocabulary and deepens their understanding of the structure of language. It opens up a world of information to child including factual and fictional information and ideas and contributes the personal development of the child by enriching their world. Reading can enrich a child's social skills, for example being read to by an adult or older sibling or even reading to a younger child is a shared experience and can strengthen relationships, as can talking about books together and sharing information with peers, listening to stories within group times and discussing aspects of the stories, etc.

Writing is important form of communication and it is used for a variety of social reasons (e.g. letters and emails to keep in touch with relatives or friends). Children need to be able to write to be able to engage in school academic tasks such as exams, essays, assignments, projects. As a child goes through school they are expected to show more sophisticated writing schools. In order to get a job or enter a university it is often a requirement to submit a written application. Writing often is an important element of many jobs and without the ability to write a person severely limits their career opportunities. Writing is also a helpful mode of communication that can be used to express feelings and thoughts that are difficult to express verbally.

Building blocks necessary for the successful development of reading and writing include:

Foundation skills required to acquire reading and writing skills include:

1) Phonological Awareness Skills

This is the awareness of what sounds are and how they come together to make words. Skills include the ability to rhyme, segment words into syllables and single sounds, identify sounds in different positions in words, etc.

2) Oral Language Skills

A child's vocabulary knowledge and use, understanding and use of language to describe, give instructions, tell stories etc. The areas of vocabulary, using complex grammar and telling stories are important in the development of reading and writing skills.

3) Print Awareness

Understanding that symbols, pictures, letters have meaning and also involves understanding of how books work. Some children acquire these foundation skills with ease while others need extra help with skills built gradually and cumulatively.

You can tell there are problems with Reading and Writing Skills if the child:

• Has ongoing difficulties with decoding unfamiliar words.
• Reads in a slow, labored or dysfluent manner when reading age-appropriate paragraphs or stories.
• Has difficulty understanding what they are reading.
• Has difficulties spelling words.
• When Reading and Writing Skills are less than ideal, it can contribute to:
• Difficulties with learning and accessing the curriculum at school.
• Lack of motivation to participate within reading and writing activities.
• Academic difficulties may lead to low self esteem.

What can be done to improve Reading and Writing Skills?

• Determining whether the foundation skills are intact and if not focusing on developing these skills.
• Developing a treatment plan with clear outlined goals and objectives.
• Developing an individualised treatment plan that can be followed through at home and if appropriate within the classroom situation.

Activities that can improve Reading and Writing Skills:

For the pre-school child and early reader:

• Encouraging active listening to sounds in the environment, songs, stories, words and speech sounds.
• Looking at books together from an early age.
• Talking about how sounds are made with your mouth, practice in front of the mirror making different sounds.
• Reading books together which have an emphasis on sound play (e.g. rhyme, alliteration, or words that start with the same sound, long words, short words, etc.).
• Talk about sounds (e.g. a snake makes a Òsssss'' sound).
• Talking about what a word begins with (ÒListen mummy starts with the ÒmÓ soundÓ, let's find more words that start with the ÒmÓ soundÓ).
• Playing games like ÒEye SpyÓ (taking turns to find objects that begin with a specified sound ÒI spy with my little eye something beginning with ÒtÓ, etc.).
• Sing songs together as they often contain rhyming or alliteration.
• Look at alphabet books and sing alphabet songs, put alphabet posters in the child's room.
• Clapping or drumming out syllables in words (e.g. butt..erÉfly, etc.).
• Make up poems together.
• Label pictures that your children draw.
• Draw up grocery lists together, write the word and draw a simple picture next to it.
• Expose your child to letters and numbers often as you can, through books, newspapers, magazines, signs in the environment.
• Choose books to read that your child is interested in (e.g. if they love cars choose a book about cars, if they like to lift flaps, pull tags etc choose those type of books). Make sure whatever you choose, it is fun for your child.
• Ask questions about what is happening in stories and what might happen next.
• Explain any unfamiliar vocabulary and if possible try to re-use any new words again within daily activities. The more times a child hears a word the more likely they are to learn it and begin using that word.

For the early school age child:

• Listen to your child read. Notice how they are reading and choose books appropriate to their reading level.
• Take turns reading aloud beginning with the child only reading a small section and increase the amount as they get more confident.
• Help your child when they get stuck on a word by helping them to use what they know about letters to sound out the word, asking them to skip the word and read the whole sentence and then think about what word might go in the sentence or provide them with the word they are having difficulty with.
• Send little letters and notes to your child to read and encourage your child to send letters/notes to you, other family members or friends.

For the older child:

• Expose your child to a variety of different types of books and reading material (factual, fantasy, folk law, fiction, funny tales, dramatic tales, etc.).
• Continue to read aloud and to share books. Explain new vocabulary and concepts that you come across.
• Give your child many opportunities to read and write stories, lists, messages, letters, notes, and postcards to relatives and friends. Since the skills for reading and writing reinforce one another, your child's skills and proficiency in reading and writing will be strengthened if you help your child connect reading to writing and writing to reading.
• Make up a story together and then illustrate the story.
• Make up a personal dictionary where the child writes down new words they have learned and writes about what they mean.
• Start a journal or a diary to describe a few things that have happened during the day.

Improving fluency of reading:

• Model fluent reading to your child with a variety of different types of reading material (e.g. newspaper, fiction, non-fiction, poems, recipes, etc.).
• After listening to an adult read fluently and with expression, talk about exactly what it was that made it good reading.
• Practice reading by reading the same passage, poem, song lyrics several times to help develop expression and fluency.
• Read aloud and ask your child to ÒechoÓ or repeat the sentence back to you in the way you read it.