7 Tips for Improving Your Child’s Reading Comprehension
Leanne Sherred, M.S., CCC-SLP
Reading comprehension is the ability to understand written text. It's an important life skill, but it doesn’t come easily for many children. They may find it hard to understand what they read, make connections between the text and their existing knowledge, think critically about concepts, and draw conclusions. Many parents wonder how to improve reading comprehension in their child, and there are simple techniques you can use at home to help.
Key takeaways
Reading comprehension is the ability to understand what we read. It involves decoding text, using reasoning and critical thinking skills, and drawing conclusions.
There are several skills that are part of reading comprehension: language, working memory, attention, and processing speed.
If your child struggles with reading comprehension, they may feel frustrated or even avoid reading.
There are strategies you can use at home to improve reading comprehension, such as reading aloud, making connections between the text and real life, asking open-ended questions, rereading favorite books, and practicing inferencing.
Speech therapy can help children learn to better process information, understand language, and improve their reading comprehension skills.
Expert support for your child
Speech therapy can help children with reading, writing, and spelling challenges. Get matched with the right therapist for your child today.
Get startedWhat is reading comprehension?
The ability to understand what we read is one of the most important life skills for young brains. Reading can open the mind and stimulate the imagination. It's essential for success at school and work.
Reading comprehension goes beyond simply answering the question “What happened?” It involves understanding and decoding text, while also using reasoning and critical thinking. These skills can help your child:
Tell facts versus fiction
Determine why some story characters are mean, funny, or sad
Understand what caused an event to happen
Consider what will happen next in the story
One common misperception is that children who are “good readers” are “good comprehenders.” In fact, often children who are able to read well still struggle to grasp the meaning of what they've read. This is because reading comprehension isn’t just a single skill. It's a collection of important developmental skills that must be improved together in order for the child to make progress.
Let’s start by reviewing what skills are involved in reading comprehension.
Some children have a learning disability that affects how they read. Learn the types and signs of reading disabilities and how to help your child.
Important reading comprehension skills
There are several language, memory, and reasoning skills that are part of reading comprehension.
Language abilities: Strong language abilities are closely linked to reading comprehension. Vocabulary is one example. Children must know many different vocabulary words to understand verbal and nonverbal language, including written text. They need to know word definitions not just individually (such as repeating the definitions with flashcards), but also within the context of sentence or paragraph.
Children who have some type of developmental language disorder are generally more likely to struggle with reading comprehension.
Working memory: Your child’s cognitive abilities and working memory are important. Working memory is the short-term memory we use to temporarily hold information, apply logic, and make decisions. For example, children with poor working memory may spend lots of time trying to decode the connections between letters and sounds. That leaves them little time to grasp and retain what they just read.
Attention: We’ve all “zoned out” during reading, then realized we remember very little of what happened on the page. The words may be clicking in our heads, but they’re not sticking. For children who have short attention spans or become easily distracted, this can contribute to poor reading comprehension.
For example, studies have shown that children with ADHD, which can affect a person’s ability to focus and pay attention, perform worse at reading comprehension tasks compared to children without ADHD.
Processing speed: This refers to the speed it takes for a person to complete tasks with accuracy. This can range from visual tasks (such as naming colors, letters, or numbers) to verbal tasks (such as answering questions or summarizing information). Children who have slower processing speed may have a harder time understanding the words they read or answering open-ended questions about the text.
Interactive shared book reading helps promote early language skills and prepare your child to start reading themselves. Here's how to do it.
How to improve reading comprehension
If your child has a hard time with reading comprehension, they may feel frustrated or hopeless. Your child may even resist reading altogether.
There are many strategies you can use with your child to improve their reading comprehension. Like all language-based skills, you may not see progress magically overnight. It takes practice and persistence! However, using these 7 techniques regularly with your child will increase their comprehension over time and set them up for school success.
1 Read aloud
When children read books aloud, this can naturally force them to slow down. They’ll have more time to process information on the page, which can help them retain and understand what they read.
2 Make connections
When you can help your child connect what they read to their personal experiences, it can help them focus. For example, if a character in the book travels to a beach, remind your child of a time your family went to the shore. Over time, prompt your child to try making these connections themselves.
3 Reread books
Many children enjoy rereading books they love. Sure, this can be somewhat numbing for parents and caregivers, but it’s actually a fantastic way to build comprehension. Rereading books will help your child familiarize themselves with the story, decode words, and gain insight from the text. It will also enable them to read more quickly and smoothly.
4 Read books at the right skill level
Choose books that are appropriate for your kiddo's reading level--ones that aren’t too difficult. As a rule of thumb, your child should know the definitions of 80% to 90% of the vocabulary words within the story. If they’re confronted with too many unrecognizable words, or are stopping often to try and interpret words, it can detract from their focus and comprehension.
5 Ask open-ended questions
While you don’t want to constantly interrupt your child, find spots throughout the story to ask questions. Try to ask open-ended questions that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no. This will encourage them to think through their answers. For example, instead of asking, “Was that character sad?” you can say, “Why was the character sad?” This helps your child to verbally process the information they’ve just read. You can also encourage reading comprehension by asking questions before, during, and after reading the book. For example:
Before: Why do you want to read this book? What do you think this book is going to be about?
During: What do you think will happen next? Why is that character upset?
After: What was the book about? Did you like the book? Did the book remind you about something that has happened to you?
Reading regularly helps your child learn speech and language skills. Get 10 practical tips to make reading together fun and enjoyable.
6 Practice inferencing
Inferencing is an important development skill. It means using information you already know to make predictions about the future. This is a wonderful way to have your child apply logic to the story in order to improve comprehension. For example, if a character is red-faced and yelling, we can infer they’re angry. If they have red eyes, a runny nose, and are sneezing, we can infer they’re sick.
7 Provide check-ins
It never hurts to take a quick pause during reading to check for understanding. You can do this during parts that are more complicated or have bigger vocabulary words, or if you notice your child getting stuck. If they’re struggling, encourage them to reread the section and try to summarize what happened.
Help for literacy disorders: Learn how to spot and support reading, writing, and spelling struggles, such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and more.
What if your child is still struggling with reading comprehension?
If your child is struggling with reading, writing, or spelling, consider talking with a speech-language pathologist. Speech therapy can help children learn to better process information, understand verbal and nonverbal language, and improve their comprehension skills.
Your speech therapist will use a variety of different techniques and strategies with your child. They'll also give you at-home exercises you can use to improve reading comprehension. Find the right speech therapist for your child and get started today!
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Reading comprehension is the ability to understand the meaning of what we read. Reading comprehension is more than just knowing what happened in a piece of text. It involves decoding language, using reasoning and critical thinking, and making connections between what you read and your existing knowledge.
ADHD can affect a person’s ability to focus and pay attention. Children who don’t have ADHD can have problems with reading comprehension. However, studies have shown that children with ADHD perform worse at reading comprehension tasks compared to children without ADHD. Having a short attention span or being easily distracted can contribute to poor reading comprehension.
The ability to understand what we read is one of life’s most important skills. Reading comprehension is essential for success at school and work. It involves using critical thinking and reasoning to understand the meaning of what we read, so we can tell fact from fiction, understand the cause and effect of events, and draw conclusions.
Parents can help kids improve their reading comprehension skills at home. Helpful techniques include reading out loud together, asking open-ended questions about the story, making connections between the text and real life, rereading favorite books, and helping your child make inferences. Speech therapy can also help children who struggle with reading skills and comprehension.
How Expressable Can Help
Concerned your child isn't reaching age-expected milestones? Looking for communication support from a professional? Expressable is a national online speech and occupational therapy practice serving children and adults. We treat all major areas of communication, feeding, and developmental skills, offer flexible hours including evenings and weekends, and accept most major health insurance plans. We’re proud to have earned more than 4,500 5-star reviews from our clients (4.83/5 average).
Our therapy model is centered on parent and caregiver involvement. Research proves that empowering caregivers to participate in their loved one’s therapy leads to better outcomes. That’s why we combine live, 1-on-1 speech and occupational therapy with personalized education and home practice activities for faster progress.
