GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It’s tough to get children to pick up a book when summer fun is calling, especially when a child is what educators call a “reluctant reader.”
It just doesn’t come naturally to them.
Literacy Coach Tara Baxter had tips for getting reluctant readers engaged.
Baxter said there are two kinds of reluctant readers.
There's those who can't read, and those who won't read.
So those who can't read are still having trouble decoding and actually reading the print on the page, or those who won't read or those who can read, they're just choosing not to.”
Baxter said parents need to play an active role in their child's literary development. Start reading to your kids at a young age. And when it’s time for THEM to read, choose books that interest them and that fit within their abilities.
“So it's a matter of, yes, you're choosing an important book,” said Baxter, “but you're also choosing a book that they will be able to decode as well. And if they're not able to decode it, that's when you bring in the whole, let's I read a page, you read a page, or maybe just to get you interested in I'm going to read you this book, you know, and the child is just listening, those are a couple different ways.”
Baxter says to look for a book series. “A series is you know, obviously a number of books.
So if they're interested in the first one, you got a whole bunch more to go and that'll keep them reading.”
Other advice? Find opportunities to read no matter where you are. At a baseball game? Read the concession sign.
At the zoo? Read the placards about each animal. Read the menu at the drive-through.
“It's one of those, you can't make it a chore,” said Baxter. “.So you can't force it. Because then they're going to be even more of a reluctant reader. So you kind of have to find ways to sneak it in.”
And finally, Baxter said, show your kids reading is important by doing it yourself.
“Truthfully, you lead by example. So if the parent takes time out of their … schedule to read, and you're doing it, then your child most likely will as well.”