Helping Your Child Become a Reader

The parent booklet can be downloaded in black and white or in full color. To print in booklet format, select the "Booklet" option from your computer's print screen.

Parent Booklet - Black and White

Parent Booklet - Color

Individual questions and answers from the parent booklet can be downloaded and printed from the links below.

1. How can I encourage my child to like reading?
2. What kinds of books should my child be reading?
3. My child brings books home to practice reading. But, she has already memorized some of them. What should I do?
4. My child seems to spend more time looking at the pictures than reading. What should I do?
5. My child does not want to sound out words she doesn't know. Should I insist that she do so?
6. What should I do when my child makes a mistake while reading?
7. Sometimes my child reads a word correctly on one page but can't figure it out on the very next page. Why does this happen?
8. Is it OK for my child to skip over words he does not know?
9. On some days my child seems to have more difficulty reading than other days. Should I worry about this?
10. Sometimes my child seems to have trouble reading a whole sentence without going back and re-reading parts of it. Is this a problem?
11. Sometimes, when my child is reading, he gets annoyed if I tell him a word he doesn't know. Why?
12. How much time should my child spend reading?
13. My child avoids reading. What should I do?
14. What kinds of things should I read to my child?
15. What can I do to help my child understand what he reads and what we read together?
16. Schools seem to be involving young children in more writing than I remember. Should I be writing with my child at home too?
17. My child uses "invented" spelling. Is this OK?
18. What can I do to help my child learn to spell more accurately?
19. My child sometimes mixes up letters like b and d, or words like was and saw. Does this mean she has dyslexia?
20. I have been told that my child is having difficulty learning to read. What can I do to help?