How To Read To Your Toddler and Expand Their Language
It’s 8PM, which happens to be your toddler’s bedtime. They have had their bath, brushed their teeth, and are tucked into bed with their comfy pajamas with the footies. As you get ready to turn out the lights, your child asks “book, daddy?”
Many parents recognize that reading to our children is one of the best ways to nourish a love for reading which will in turn set them up to be ready to read when they enter kindergarten and first grade.
There is another predictor of a child’s success in learning during their kindergarten year. Children who hear more vocabulary words are better prepared to see those words in print when they enter school. This goes beyond the typical vocabulary words we use in our daily routines with young kids, and encompasses some of the language utilized in the classroom which is encountered in books.
tt’s one thing for a child to use tools to read phonetically and sound out words, but when they are successful in reading the word, what happens if they don’t know the meaning of the word? This can be seen in the classroom when teachers give students directions that include words like first, next, and last. These are common words used in literature, but not always in our everyday language.
Jessica Logan at the Ohio State University completed a study about predictors of reading. In her study, she estimated that kids who read one book per day will hear about 290,000 more words by age 5 than those children who don’t regularly read books with an adult. When you say “yes” to your child at 8PM, you are really helping your child’s vocabulary grow.
How do you read to your children? You can simply read the words on the page, and your child will definitely benefit.
You can also take things to the next level by using the proven technique of dialogic book reading. This technique is one that easily be implemented via online speech therapy. Let’s delve into what dialogic book reading is all about.
Dialogic book reading is interactive and is for children of all ages and levels. It works for both fiction and non-fiction books and is child-centered. Dialogic book reading is a truly valuable tool for developing literacy skills and expanding a child’s vocabulary. By modeling how good readers think it teaches learners to become better readers. We also use dialogic book reading during our telehealth speech therapy sessions!
Some of these key concepts include improving a child’s skills in print awareness, oral language and comprehension.
There is also another bonus children receive from dialogic book reading when it is paired with fiction books which are focused on character development rather than the plot of a story. These types of stories can be extremely effective in the development of empathy in young children.
Now that we have learned how impactful dialogic book reading can be, let’s focus on how to read a book with this technique.
For this, we will follow the PEER sequence.
P- prompts the child to say something about the text
When looking at the cover of a book, the parent can say the title, underline it with their finger, and ask the child “what do you think this book is about?”
E- evaluates the response
The child then responds to their parent “a train”.
E- expands on the child’s answer by rephrasing it or by adding info
The parent then says “yes, I think we will read about a passenger train”.
R- repeats the prompts to see if the child has learned from the expansion.
Parent: What kind of train is this?
Child: A passenger train.
We use a variety of prompts to cue the child during dialogic book reading. Many parents already do this naturally.
The prompts are referred to as CROWD:
C- completion prompts Ex: The train is going over the _________ (water).
R- recall prompts Ex: Where is the train going?
O- open-ended prompts Ex: Would you like to ride on a passenger train?
W- wh-prompts Ex: Where is the train going?
D- Distancing prompts (relate their own experiences to the text) Ex: Do you remember where we saw the silver passenger train?
When we use dialogic book reading with our children, we are expanding their vocabulary while also following their lead during the interaction. This creates an interactive and child-led experience where fun is had by all. When you use dialogic reading practices, you may be surprised to hear your child’s thoughts about a book.
For more information about the benefits of dialogic book reading, you can visit with us at Seagull Speech and Language Services. We frequently utilize literature in our telehealth speech therapy sessions to address our students’ speech and language goals. Speech therapy at home for kids can be a very effective way to help children with speech and language delays.