Helping your reluctant reader on a slow Sunday...

The evidence shows that children who discuss what they are reading with their parents make much better progress in their learning. Find some time today to talk to your child about what he or she is reading or what you are reading. Even better, read the same book together, taking turns to read aloud. Here are some ideas on how to talk about what you read: predict together what might happen next; ask your child to summarise what she has read; take turns quizzing one another on what you have just read; or discuss words that are new to your child, putting them into other sentences. You can practise most of these skills while curled up in front of a film too. This kind of talk will encourage your child to engage at a deep level with text. In my experience, reluctant readers are also often exactly the children who are best able to understand underlying themes once they start reading. Research shows that children with dyslexia activate more of their brain when they read and are able to take a wider and deeper view of the text. Once again: it's not all about reading the words on the page accurately; it's so much more.