Help Desk Winter ’08

question_marks Welcome to the Kids Enabled Help Desk – where readers go to ask questions about what is important to them. The 2007 fall issue gave the first opportunity for you to ask and be answered. The following is the question that was chosen and a synopsis of the answers from our panel of experts.

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Reading skills are crucial to a child’s ability to learn.
What do you do if your child isn’t interested?

Question:

My young child doesn’t seem interested in reading. Are there activities I can do with her to spark an interest? What, in particular, can I do to get my child interested in reading?

-Jenny Washington, Lawrenceville, GA

Answers:

kathyplatzman Being read to, listening to books on tape, telling stories, and making up stories together are all ways to make reading fun. Children understand sophisticated stories well before they can read them. So, telling stories or reading to them can be highly motivating!

- Kathy Platzman, Ph.D.
KE Editorial Advisory Board Member

lauriesmith It’s important to consider why your child is not interested. She may just not be ready, or she may be having trouble with tracking or deciphering the words. Learning why she isn’t interested will help you determine the best way to spark her interest.

- Laurie Smith
KE Parent Representative

drpennyhayes Listen to books on tape as you drive around town or during down time at home. Make up stories together and take turns changing the ending. It helps to be silly and goofy. Try acting out scenes or dialogue from her favorite stories.

- Penny Hays, Ph.D.
KE Editorial Advisory Board Member

Reading can be done in non-traditional ways. If your child is a “hands-on” learner, get her in the kitchen and “read” a recipe together then prepare it. Teach her to read labels while you grocery shop. Tell her she can select any breakfast cereal as long as it has three grams of fiber. Have fun reading in different ways during regular day-to- day activities!

- Carol Ann Brannon, M.S., RD, LD
KE Editorial Advisory Board Member

gayleborn There are many ways you make reading fun for yourchild. Here are just a few:

Read with her – everywhere and anywhere – cereal boxes, toy boxes in Target, billboards, menus in restaurants, etc.

Let her see you reading for pleasure.

Keep fun reading material around the house – comic books, the funny papers, an issue of a kid’s maga zine, a letter the parent wrote to the child.

Visit the library or local bookstore for storytime, book signings and special activities.

Help her discover a favorite author through reading or even searching online.

Reward her for reading a certain number of books.

Set up a neighborhood book club.

Fix a special book loft or reading area for her in your home.

“Plan” a trip to a location in a favorite book. Tell her that by reading she can have many adventures!

- Gayle Born, M.Ed.,
Educational Consultant, Parkaire Consultants
KE Editorial Advisory Board Member

daniellemmoore Fun rhyming books, like those by Dr. Seuss, are a great way to “play with words” and make reading aloud fun! If you are having fun, they are having fun, and they won’t view reading as a chore.

- Danielle Moore, M.S. Ed., CCC-SLP, The Language Group,
KE Editorial Advisory Board Member

shahnoorsdharamsi Create activities that tie in with the theme of a favorite book. Help her create her own autobiography. By writing her own book, she will realize the joy of books and the value they bring to our lives.