Reading with Children

I have three children, ages 3, 5 and 6.  My 3 year old son has special needs.  Do you have any suggestions on how to modify activities to include all three children?

Parents and siblings of the special needs child are unsung heroes in my book. We are all strapped for time and we all feel the tug of parental guilt from time to time.  I think it’s wonderful if you can carve out separate time for each child; however, sometimes this is not possible. The child with special needs often requires greater expenditures in both time and money.  The rewards and the learning opportunities are also greater if we keep a positive outlook.  Children who grow up with special needs siblings have the chance to learn compassion, patience and love. They also have the opportunity to educate peers about the capabilities, not disabilities of their special needs sibling. 

I encourage families to adjust games so they are developmentally appropriate for each child.  If the goal of the game is to help with language skills and reading then sit in a circle and every time it is your three year olds turn he might name a toy from a bag of objects that begin with the B sound (baby, ball, bear). If your three year old does not know the names of the toys then perhaps he can say the B sound.  Your 5 year old might name the letter of the alphabet from a stack of cards while your 6 year old might read words with B sounds.  Together, your children will have fun learning and you won’t have to separate the children to accomplish your goal. Variations include: add a game board and move tokens every time they take a turn or have them throw a ball into a box every time they complete a word or mark off smiley faces on a chart.  Create activities that are fun and successful for each child’s skill level.

When you read bedtime stories perhaps your 6 year old says the words that he knows from his sight word list, while your 5 year old points out the letter B every time he sees it and the 3 year old points to the pictures as you name them.  You can still remain a family and modify the activities to meet the needs of each child.  More tips for reading and improving language skills may be found on the website granitebayspeech.com.

What skills help children learn to read?

Children become better readers when they learn how to manipulate sounds in a variety of ways.  The following sound awareness activities may help your child: 1. rhyme words throughout the day; 2. teach your child to recognize words that begin with the same sound.  If you say, “bear, care, ball” your child should learn to recognize that two words that begin with the B sound; 3. Name a letter and have your child make up words that begin with that sound; 4. Teach your child to identify and group sounds at the beginning, middle and end of words (all the words that end with B, all the words that begin with B); 5. Blend separate sounds into a word (you say B-A-T- and the child says “Bat”) 6. Teach your child to separate the sounds of a word into isolated components (you say basket and your child says the sounds that go with the letters B-A-S-K-E-T); 7. Finally, the most difficult sound manipulation task involves asking your child to alter words by removing a sound segment (you say “ball” and tell your child to remove the B sound and they should say “all”, you say “sat” and tell them to remove the S sound and they say “at”) Start with easier words like Cat and eventually progress to more complicated words like alligator.  Use words that are age appropriate.  Use words from their academic work to reinforce comprehension.  Use spelling lists, social studies books and science vocabulary to strengthen their vocabulary and spelling skills at the same time.  Have fun and It is best to do these activities more frequently and in short practice sessions throughout the day rather than in one long lesson. Do a five minute practice session on the way to school and one on the way home.  Use both the right and left sides of their brain to integrate learning by using music.  Raffi is one of my favorite artists and he produces great songs for silly rhyming. Have fun and enjoy the time with your child!

You may contact Nancy Barcal at www.granitebayview.com if you would like to submit a question or want more information about learning and communication skills for children and adults.