by Cary H. Chenery, M.Ed.,CCC-SLP

Reading is a great opportunity to share the gift of language with your child. Books offer rich opportunities for learning language concepts by providing exposure to new places, new ideas, and new words, all from the comfort of your coziest reading spot.

Here are some important speech and language skills and how to address them during book sharing:

Using Action Words
Verbs are important, especially for kids, whose job it is to play and be active! By talking about what characters are doing in the story (“He’s ice skating and spinning in circles!”, “She’s running so fast!”, etc.) you can model a variety of action words for your child. You can even have him act out the verbs himself! 

Answering ”Wh” questions

This can start with the cover. Look at the front of the book with your child and ask “What do you see?”. Talk about what the story might be about. This is a great way to work on making predictions and inferences. Before or after turning pages ask a child “What will happen next?”, “What did he find?”, etc.

Increasing Depth of Vocabulary
Work on this simply by talking about the things you see on the page: “Wow, I see a giant panda. He’s eating lots of bamboo. And I see a sea lion sunning himself on a big rock. And look, there are some children holding balloons and having ice cream.  This must be a zoo!”

Developing Narrative Skills (the language of telling a story)
There is a beginning, middle and ending of all stories–fictional, non-fictional, and those of our day-to-day lives. If kids learn the first, next and last pattern of a book, they can use that same pattern to talk about what happened first, next and last during their day. (“First, I put my backpack on the hook, then we had circle time–and I was the leader!, and last we had snack–oranges–before we left”). When we teach a child about the concepts of “beginning,” “middle” and “end”, we improve their ability to tell ‘what happened’ in a logical way. In particular, a story told in past tense demonstrates how to share something that’s already happened, which can help children learn to communicate about past events more effectively.

Articulating Sounds
If your child is working on their articulation of certain sounds in speech therapy, working on these sounds during reading is a great way to encourage carryover of their skills.  Their target sounds most likely occur naturally in the book, but you may want to comb the book for pictures or words in the text that contain their sounds beforehand.  Talk about what you see on the page and encourage your child to “use your good /s, z, r, l, etc./ sound!”

What if My Child Won’t Pay Attention or doesn’t Want to Read? 

While the Children’s Reading Foundation suggests that children are read to for at least 20 minutes a day, this can be challenging if your child is especially busy and has trouble sitting for a book.  If this sounds like your child, try these strategies to keep reading together a special, fun, and engaging experience:

• Make reading a routine by having a special time that you share books with your child every day.
• Find a regular reading spot that is cozy and comfortable. 
• Consider your child’s age and attention.  A child’s age in years may be a good estimate for how long they can pay attention (a two year old for two minutes, for example). Meet your child at their level–don’t expect a busy child who plays for 1-2 minutes with a favorite toy to sit for an entire book.  A child will slowly develop patience if you build up from a minute or two at a time. 
• modify and paraphrase long sentences.  For some books, skip the written words altogether and point out pictures/summarize. 
• Encourage the child’s participation.  Can he be in charge of turning the page, or saying a repetitive phrase (e.g. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, “what do you see?”)? Are there opportunities to “act out” parts of the story (jumping off a lily pad, snoring, tiptoeing, etc.). 
• Let your child catch you reading–there are few greater motivators than being just like mama, daddy, grandma, etc.
• Adding dramatic pauses (“she opened the box and it was a…..?!”) and sound effects (animal sounds, car noises, etc.) makes the book come alive and gives the child a chance to join in by finishing the line or imitating. 
• Don’t just stick to the text. Commenting (“whoa! That’s a huge cookie!”), asking questions (“Do you think he’s going to eat the whole thing?”) , and relating the story back to the child (“Look, he holds his teddy in the car just like you do!”) are great ways to make reading more personal. 

Book sharing with your child may take time and practice–just like any new activity. With consistency and an engaging routine, reading together will become an amazing vehicle for language development and a special activity for you to do together.