Is Your Child Ready for School? Early Reading Skills

Have you been wondering if your child is ready for school? Getting ready for school is such an exciting time, for both children and their parents! There’s nothing quite like the excitement (and nervous anticipation) of purchasing school supplies, heading to orientations, and watching your child prepare to navigate the world of higher education. 
 
One of the biggest questions parents often ask when it comes to their pre-school aged children, is ‘How do we know that they are ready for big school?’  

It’s easy to become overwhelmed when considering the skills your child may need to have mastered by the time that they start school. The most common skills that parents assume their child needs include reading, writing, counting, or spelling. However, while there is absolutely a place for these skills, there are many other, arguably more important areas of development that should also be investigated while establishing school readiness.  

Early Reading Skills 

Can your child sound out words yet? Not words as written down in a book – think about words that are spoken during conversational language. 

If you can hear your child leaving out certain letters, sounds, or combinations while they are speaking, make a mental note to monitor this. It could be an indication that they need a little extra TLC in these areas, which a qualified speech therapist will be able to assess and target.  

A simple way to see where your child is at when it comes to comprehension is to ask them the basic ‘WH’ questions during story time.  

• Who is the main character?  
• Where are they going on this page?  
• What do you think happens next?  
• Why is this character doing this – looking sad – so happy?  

You can build on these initial comprehension questions as their age and their reading level grows, but it’s never too early to expose them to open-ended questions that will help to build on their knowledge bank and see where their language strengths and weaknesses lie. 

What's Next?

As you can see, there really is so much more to school readiness then whether your child can pick up a pencil and write a story, or read a written story independently.

The most important thing is to look at your child as an individual, as opposed to comparing to others – and if you need a little extra support or guidance, look to a qualified speech pathologist to help you on your way.

If you would love to assist your child in getting ready for school, then my Kick Start Kindy program would be perfect. Otherwise, download the free School Readiness checklist to see if your little one is ready for big school!