What Skills Create Successful Readers?

• Written By: Jodie Maher
• 29-11-2010
• Categorized in: The Learning Blog

The process of learning to read is quite complex. There are so many skills children are required to know to read successfully, including understanding what letters, sounds, words and sentences are; the grammar conventions and punctuation (just to name a few).
                                    
There are a number of behaviours that show us that our child is learning to read. These include:

• Directional movement – children know how to read from left to right and then move to the next line – that is they follow the words on the page correctly.

• Children read for meaning – children are able to tell if what they are reading makes sense.

• One to one matching – children are able to match a written word with a spoken word – here they are not skipping large chunks of text.

• Self monitoring – children are able to tell when they have read something wrong.

• Searching – children are able to look for the information they need to help them read – they look at the print (what the word looks like), the language structure (how the sentence is written) and the content (what the story is about). They know they can also use the pictures to help out. That is if they are not sure of a word they can work it out through the meaning of the text, letters used or the way it is written.

• Self correction – children are able to use all of the above to correct any mistakes they make when reading.

If your children are developing some of these behaviours then they are on their way to becoming successful, independent readers