Reading comprehension involves strategies that help students become engaged and active readers. By providing your child with opportunities to practice their reading comprehension skills at home, you give them additional practice, help track their progress, and take an active role in their learning. Below are some research-backed strategies you can use at home to support your child’s growth:

1. Activate Prior Knowledge: Connecting new information to what your child already knows makes reading more meaningful and easier to understand. Before reading a book ask your child what they already know about the topic!
2. Make Predictions: Encourage your child to actively engage with the text by predicting what might happen next. Look at the title, the table of contents, and the visuals to make informed guesses
3. Ask Questions: Asking questions throughout the reading process helps increase engagement and understanding. Prompt your child by asking what they think of a character’s choices or motivations. Maybe ask your child what they think they might have done differently.
4. Summarize: Have your child identify the main ideas and key details. Summarizing helps with memory retention and can be broken down into manageable chunks. You can extend this by also helping your child identify evidence in the text. Try asking why they think that and also what part of the texts supports their idea!
5. Metacognitive Strategies: Teach your child to recognize when they don’t understand something in the text. Encourage them to identify the difficulty and use strategies like re-reading, writing down questions, or using a sticky note to remember to come back to it. 
6. Reading Together: Reading with your child is a wonderful way to ensure they practice their reading skills regularly. For some families, this might look like reading aloud together, while for others, it could involve reading separate books at the same time. You might even try independently reading the same book together! Reading alongside your child shows that you value reading and helps make it a natural part of your daily routine. 
7. Read High-Interest books: This one is crucial! Many students who struggle with reading skills often feel that they don’t enjoy it. To address this, it’s important to help your child choose books that capture their interest, especially for reading outside of school. Whether it’s mystery, fiction, comic books, or graphic novels, encourage your child to explore books they’re excited about. Using reading comprehension strategies in this context will help your child develop skills that can later be applied to more complex or less preferred texts. 

By incorporating these strategies into your child’s reading routine, you’ll help them strengthen their comprehension skills and become more confident, independent readers. If you’re looking for additional support, SFL clinicians have experience helping students develop a wide range of reading skills. We’re also always happy to collaborate with you and your child’s school team to discuss strategies and provide ongoing support to ensure your child’s continued academic progress.

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Written by Joi Ward, M.Ed., MA Special Education