Summer Reading Strategies for children with Reading Difficulties

Here are some simple strategies to help your children keep the academic skills they learned during the school year.  Support them as they read.  Give them material that is motivating - and some of it should be easy.  Help them enjoy books and feel pleasure - not pressure - from reading.  The summer should be a relaxed time where their love of learning can flower.

As a parent you play a critical role in your child's education during the summer - especially if your child has trouble reading.  Without your help, kids are more likely to forget what they learned last year.  Encourage them to read for pleasure without the pressure they experience in the classroom.

Here is some summer reading strategies to help your child see that reading can be useful and enjoyable:

- Give them material that motivates them to read.  Try comic books, directions for interesting projects, and mystery stories.  Have them read information on possible activities as you plan your summer vacation.  Let them decide what they want to read.
-  Support them as they read.  Read their book aloud to them, help them decode, and make it easy for them to get the meaning.  Even if a question is asked again and again or if you feel irritated, act happy that they asked.  Show them that reading is a way to find out what they need to know, or even to entertain themselves.
- When you read with them, make it your goal to enjoy the book together.  You don't have to make them read perfectly!  Avoid too much correction.  In school next year, the teacher will help them improve their skills.
- Let younger children "pretend" to read.  Read the story aloud together.  Let them follow your voice.  Have them look at the words as you point to them, even if they aren't actually reading.  When they say the wrong word, say the word correctly and cheerfully while pointing to the word.
- Read aloud to them as you do daily chores, sight see, or sit on the beach.  Read an instruction manual with them as you try to fix something.  While visiting a museum, read the interpretive materials.  If you see the slightest sign they want to read aloud to you, let them!
- Use technology.  If you have a computer, equip it with software that reads aloud.  Let them load books into their electronic devices and listen to them at the same time as they read the printed book in their hands.  Use recorded books.
- Be a model of reading.  Bring books to the beach and read them.  If you are travelling, find a book for the whole family to read and discuss.  If you are dyslexic, "read" your taped books on vacation, letting your child see you or give them their own tapes.  Show and tell them how you overcame your own difficulties.
- Have reading matter conveniently available.  You might carry small children's books and magazines with you and have them ready when you must wait in line for those crowded amusement park rides and popular sightseeing destinations.

Children can discover the joys of reading and other academic skills in the relaxed summer season.  If nobody tells them they must read to get good grades, they might just pick up a book and enjoy it.