How to Improve Your Child’s Reading Skills (Infographic)

Early reading skills are often linked to academic achievement. And for good reason. Reading sparks creativity, improves concentration, and even strengthens connections in the brain! So, a goal for every parent should be to build their kids’ reading skills.

In a research paper entitled “What Reading Does for the Mind,” professors Anne E. Cunningham and Keith E. Stanovich emphasize how reading at an early age can help kids succeed, “… it is difficult to overstate the importance of getting children off to an early successful start in reading,” they conclude. “We must ensure that students’ decoding and word recognition abilities are progressing solidly.”

And they stress that reading at any age will help both the struggling students as well as high-achieving students. “A positive dimension of our research is that all of our studies have demonstrated that reading yields significant dividends for everyone—not just for the ‘smart kids’ or the more able readers,” according to the report. “Even the child with limited reading and comprehension skills will build vocabulary and cognitive structures through reading.”

But how can parents ensure that their children will become strong readers? It is a task that has become increasingly more difficult in an age of tech devices and countless other distractions. Harvard Graduate School of Education researchers have compiled several helpful tips to aid parents and educators with this important goal. This Raising Strong Readers Slideshow offers pertinent information for parents of toddlers to teens, including facts about each age group, specific guidelines to improve reading skills, and benchmarks to look for based on age.

Scroll through this colorful slideshow and get your kids on a successful path to becoming strong readers!