How to improve Comprehension Skills for your Children

Reading comprehension is a crucial component in the development of language skills. To improve the general understanding of what one is reading, it helps to make an effort to comprehend and extrapolate meaning as one reads. You can help improve the comprehension skills of your child by making reading simpler, more pleasurable, and by learning to use effective reading practices.

We always want what's best for our children as parents. We make an effort to give them the best that the world has to offer so that they will be armed with the necessary abilities and characteristics to face any challenges that may arise. We help them with their schoolwork, provide them reading comprehension exercises, and take every other step possible to support their development.

We tend to put a lot of effort into raising our children’s intelligence. But intelligence alone won't guarantee success in the future. A high IQ is not more significant than EQ. In light of this, we should strive as parents to foster in our kids a balance of cerebral, physical, and emotional growth.

How To Improve Reading Comprehension Skills In Your Children?

Despite the fact that the terms reading and comprehension are sometimes used interchangeably, they are not the same. Reading is the process of translating text into spoken or written words. Understanding and interpreting words and language are key components of comprehension.

Comprehension skills are crucial to your child’s future. They improve reading enthusiasm in kids and boost their academic performance. Moreover, they are also learning tools that they can use for the entirety of their lives.

Imagine your child reading through an employment contract, and not being able to understand what is written. Or reading a book but failing to take away the valuable life lessons it contains. Regardless of the profession your children choose in the future, comprehension plays a vital role in their linguistic success.

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Age 1:

Building Blocks

The early years of a child's life are when they undergo the most changes. Improved comprehension skills can be developed from an early age.

Babbling, pointing, and sign language are all ways that one-year-olds communicate. Despite the lack of speech, your child understands more than you think. Try talking about their favourite food or toy, and you're sure to see a smile spread across their face. This is a sign that your child has started comprehending.1

How can I help my one-year-old have better comprehension skills?

  • Speak to him or her as much as possible, particularly when you are bathing, feeding, or changing them. This is the time when you have their full and undivided attention.
  • Try describing and pointing at things, and telling them about what’s happening around.
  • Make sure your language is straightforward and basic, such as "This is a red ball," to encourage your youngster to form associations.

Age 2:

Fun and Games

Your toddler is growing by leaps and bounds at this stage. By age two, most toddlers have a vocabulary of 50 words or more, are able to put together two to three-word phrases, and comprehend simple instructions like “Go here” and “Put the ball down.”1

How can I improve the comprehension skills of my two-year-old ?

  • From the age of 12 to 24 months, exploration is at the heart of every child’s mind and play becomes a crucial step for learning and development.2 Use this to your advantage by incorporating play into your efforts to teach your toddlers new words.
  • Start with simple nursery rhymes like “head, shoulder, knees, and toes” to teach them about their body.
  • You can also try placing photos of different animals around the house. Encourage your child to match the animal to the correct animal noise you make.
  • Try to make learning all about fun and games at this stage.

Age 3:

Look Who’s Talking

Your three-year-old is a great conversationalist. He probably has between 600 to 900 words in his vocabulary by now.3 This is also the stage when he starts communicating his emotions and feelings. And you can look forward to him delighting you with stories of how his day went every day.

How can I help improve the comprehension skills of my three-year-old?

  • Start off by making sure you have one-on-one time with your child. Have conversations with him about how his day went.
  • If he stumbles upon a word or two, reaffirm him and correct the sentence.
  • Books are their best friends. Three-year-olds hear three times the number of rare words in books compared to what they hear in conversations.4

Age 4:

Language

When we consider language comprehension in four-year-olds, we are referring to a more comprehensive knowledge of spoken words and sentences. This is when preschoolers develop their vocabulary and learn about language structure.

How can I help my four-year-old comprehend better?

  • Read out loud as your finger or a ruler skims through the words.
  • Take turns reading out loud. This will help him slow down and focus on the words. This way, he’s not only reading the words but listening to them too.5

Age 5:

Ready for the Future

By the age of five, 90% of your child’s brain growth is already complete.6 Most children this age have greater self-control and display creativity. They are increasingly self-reliant and content to play with their toys by themselves, unattended.. Additionally, they have a better ability to verbalise their emotions and frustrations. 7

How can I help improve the comprehension skills of my five-year-old?

  • You are aware by this point how crucial reading aloud to your child is. Keep at it, and don’t stop!
  • Have adult-like conversations with your five-year-old. A wonderful approach to be sure your youngster can understand is to quiz him before, during, and after the story.
  • Ask him to repeat stories you read to him in his own words. This is a great way to make sure he understood the story.

Dear moms and dads, there are various approaches to help improve your children’s comprehension skills, but nothing can replace the importance of basic nutrition and a healthy diet. Most of your child's brain development happens in the first five years of life. . The brain won’t ever develop this quickly again.8

Make sure you don’t miss out on providing your child with the nutrition he needs to fully develop his mental and physical development. Lack of nutrition at this critical phase may cause youngsters to develop their language and comprehension relatively slowly and result in lower I.Q9 scores. Contrary to what you may think, your child's Comprehension skills are easy to develop. Watch out for important milestones, practice these simple exercises and provide your children with the right diet and nutrition, and they will be on their way to a bright future.9

References:

1 https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/c12yr.html

2 https://www.babycenter.com/0_play-why-its-so-important-12-24-months_1736...

3 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/2008conferences/language.pdf

4 http://www.parents-choice.org/article.cfm?art_id=334&the_page=article

5 https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/reading-resources/d...

6 Lenroot RK and Giedd JN.Neuroscienceand Biobehavioral Reviews 2006;30:718-729

7 https://www.webmd.com/parenting/4-to-5-year-old-milestones#1

8 https://www.factsforlifeglobal.org/03/

9 https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/nutrition-brain-development-12-year-old...