Reading is a technique, or skill, essential to function in society. But reading is not the same as understanding what is readIt is what we call comprehensive reading, and there are children who have difficulty understanding what they read. We show you some exercises, we recommend that you do them as games, which you can do at home, many of them are a simple reinforcement of what the child does at school.
Ideally, boys and girls will manage reading comprehension while learning to decode letters, phonemes and words. However, this does not happen, because reading comprehension is the last thing that is acquired, and it is essential to learn, or remember any information, and we dare to say that it is essential for the enjoyment of reading.
How to get to comprehensive reading
For a boy or a girl to reach reading comprehension first you have to develop phonological awareness. This is the ability to understand that words are made up of sounds. Afterwards, automation or fluency and vocabulary are acquired. And finally, comprehension strategies are assimilated.
To acquire a comprehensive reading It is about reading slowly, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, trying to understand the meaning of the text. The child must make an effort of attention and avoid the syndrome of the crystalline eyes. This fact occurs when the child reads without knowing what he is reading and does not realize that he is not learning anything until they have turned several pages.
According to the Kintsch Model, to reach reading comprehension it is necessary:
- Extract the meaning and ideas from the text.
- Activate prior knowledge on the subject.
- Make inferences, self-regulate and stay motivated.
Relationship between comprehensive reading and school failure
If the boy or girl do not have the ability to read comprehension, possibly doomed to school failure. Not understanding what is read influences seemingly contrary disciplines such as mathematics. A problem cannot be solved if the statement is not understood.
In addition, children with reading comprehension difficulties also they will grow up without attachment and interest in reading. For them it will be a complex and fruitless action, full of difficulties. This fact makes these boys and girls very exceptional or outright null readers.
It is also possible that the child have a reading delay associated with dyslexia, dysorthography, or dysgraphia. In this sense, there are also some activities and exercises that you can do at home and you will help him solve the problem. But always remember to ask the speech therapist for advice to assess the need to carry out intervention sessions or consult with other specialists.
Exercises for elementary school children
Through the internet and in bookstores, you will find different materials to work on comprehensive reading with ease. Many of them have in the form of plug and the child is asked to draw, or color, the questions that appear in the sentence. Thus, a comprehensive analysis of the reading in question can be achieved.
Another proposal is to do read a short text to the child, and then ask you questions about it. The texts with questions are positive because they help to remember the data assimilated with the reading. That is, do not ask your child what he has read, but ask him a series of questions that help him remember the content of the reading.
Working through play, with exercises and reading comprehension activities at home and at school, helps children to grow up without this learning deficit, and, of course, to carry it along for years. All texts have a meaningYou will only have to ask your child or put different pictures to mark what the text says. Until the child, girl, does not have a certain command of reading, summaries are not recommended.