Have you been singing the ABC song since your baby could sing? Have you been looking for letters, pointing them out and naming them? How about practicing the sounds they make? Wonderful! This is beginning phonics! Maybe you've even been sounding out simple words: ME, CAT, DOG, MOM, DAD. Great! You can then look for those simple words in books and have your child read them. You can even find many books that are written almost solely with simple words that your child can sound out. (Often these books are terribly boring and make no sense, so beware!) These are very important reading skills. Your child may then begin learning combination sounds like TH, CH, SH, OO, and the silent E. Amazing! There is so much to learn!
Then come even more complicated rules and all the exceptions to those rules. Gee whiz! Could we have a more complicated language? English is one of the more difficult languages to learn because of its complexity and the sheer number of words that have variations in meaning, are spelled the same but pronounced differently, or sound the same but are spelled differently. I know you know all of these things because you are reading this right now. And you don't need to think about any of those rules, do you? That is because you are a fluent reader. You have been speaking and reading English long enough that you no longer need the rules. Your brain focuses mainly on the beginning and ending sounds and context clues when reading.
But back to our young readers... how do we help them with the craziness of the English language? I cannot recommend the "sound it out" approach. Yes, it can work. It is obviously helpful to know the general rules and sounds that letters make. But this strategy for figuring out unfamiliar words quickly becomes very frustrating for the child and for the parent or teacher! It is usually more effective to memorize some of the most common sight words (remember those books they memorized from infancy). Then when the child comes to a word they don't know, have the child guess, based on the beginning and/or ending sound of the word and, most importantly, the context of what they are reading. This means they have to be thinking about what they are reading and gaining meaning from the words, not simply decoding sounds. And gaining meaning is the entire goal of reading!
This is also why I advocate turn taking while reading. Remember round robin reading as a child when you went around the classroom taking turns reading a sentence or paragraph? Maybe you were the slow reader and hated reading aloud or maybe you were the fluent reader and wanted to read the entire thing so you didn't have to wait for the slower readers. Whichever child you identify with, the idea behind this approach is that the more fluent readers will model for the others. They will keep the flow of the text moving and hopefully everyone is listening and gaining meaning. The slower readers still get practice reading aloud without the frustration of having to read the entire text. Parents can take turns reading with their child to gain the same effect in a more safe, comforting environment.
There are huge benefits to continuing to read more challenging material aloud to your child for many years to come. In college, I loved when our Children's Literature teacher would sit us all on the floor and read wonderful picture books to us. I remember the tears in my eyes as I listened to her read books like "The Dead Bird" and "Pink and Say." Aside from sheer enjoyment, listening expands a child's vocabulary as they hear unfamiliar words. When they encounter these words in their own reading, they will be prepared for them. Audio books can be a nice tool if you do not feel comfortable or confident reading aloud. You can also take advantage of story time at your local library or bookstore.
Heading to your library or bookstore can double as an outing that will bring up topics for conversation. Talking with your child is just as important to reading success as reading aloud. The reason reading to children is so powerful is that books tend to use new words that we don't encounter in everyday situations. So in that vein, you can help your child's reading success by bringing different vocabulary words into conversation or imaginary play. Explore the world, get into new situations, visit unique places: museums, fairs, fire stations, the post office... exposing your child to new terminology and giving them hands-on context for these unfamiliar words. Have them tell someone about their experiences to reinforce their learning. Later, when they are reading to themselves, they will know those words based on their beginning and ending sounds and the context in which they appear.
