We’re loving the new website to support parents and carers with reading: Read on. Get on.
It contains lots of great advice and help, including story starters and lots of hints and tips. There are links to other useful websites and there is a way for you to check your child’s progress.
Here are some top tips listed on the website. Although it’s all about supporting reading, it’s interesting to see that these tips are ways to support your child’s speaking and listening skills (so they should really help with Talk Time homework tasks, too!).
- When talking with your child or looking at books together, help them to focus on what you are saying: Turn off the TV, the radio or the mobile. Removing distractions helps your child
- Get down to the child’s level or bring them up to yours. This helps get their attention. Young children find it difficult to listen while they are doing something else.
- Say their name first to help them stop and listen. Make sure your child can see your face when you are talking together. The gestures and facial expressions help give clues about what you’re saying. For example, a smile, a ‘thumbs up’.
- It’s important to talk at the right level for your child. If your child is mainly using one word sentences, use one or two words sentences with them. An example is ‘Find shoes’ when looking at a story page with a picture of shoes.
- If your child uses longer sentences to talk, use longer sentences with them. Ask ‘Find the man with the black hair’‘, or ‘Where is the rabbit jumping?’
- Conversations are more than questions and answers. When you talk to your child, try to comment on what they say and do. In the park, say something like “I love going down slides”. Then wait to hear what your child says next.
- When sharing stories together, comment on what your child shows an interest in. Repeat back to your child what you know they meant, even if they didn’t say it quite right. This helps encourage them to keep trying.
- Children need time to plan what they are going to say. Say something to your child then wait for them to put their thoughts together before answering. Always show your child that you are listening. This shows them that you are interested and like talking with them.