In order to understand what they read, it’s critical for children to possess narrative skills, the ability to retell stories. Developing these narrative skills is something that can start at a very young age, even before children learn to talk! Besides reading to your child, here are a few ideas of ways you can help your little one develop strong narrative skills:
-Narrate your day—talk to your child about what you’re doing as you’re doing it. If your child is old enough to talk, encourage him to do the same.
-Talk to your baby when she babbles or coos and add some more words to it. It’s okay that you don’t know exactly what she’s saying!
-Give your child extra time to answer questions. Hearing a question and formulating a response involves at least three different parts of the brain. Plus, kids tend to be slower, since they haven’t had as much practice answering questions as we have!
-Use household items as props for your child to retell a story.
-Encourage your child to draw pictures and then tell you about what is in the picture.
-Tell your child stories about when you were a kid.
-Practice dialogic reading by prompting your child with questions and engaging him in discussions while reading.
-Have your child retell a favorite story or one you’ve recently read together.
-Talk about what is happening in the pictures when you’re reading with your child.
-Ask your child to predict what might come next in a story.
-Summarize stories after you’ve finished reading them.
Giving your child these powerful skills early on will dramatically impact in her future reading success!