How to Prepare a Child for Reading

Bryan Specht

Introduction Bryan Specht leads as president of Olsen Engage, a

Chicago-based public relations agency. Outside of his professional responsibilities, Bryan Specht maintains an interest in improving childhood education.

Learning to read is vital in the development of a child. While there are always exceptions, most experts agree that children are unable to read before the age of five or six, as younger children have not yet forged the necessary neural connections responsible for the cognitive interpretation of printed letters and words.

Reading In the meantime, however, parents can give

children an early advantage in learning to read by engaging in indirect instruction. Indirect instruction includes such activities as reading out loud to a child and playing interactive word games that can begin as early as a baby’s first days of life. Research has shown that reading to newborns can provide a number of benefits, ranging from independent reading preparedness to bonding between child and caregiver.