Nine Steps to Make Your Child a Fluent Reader

1. STORY-TELLING is a vital first step to literacy. From birth, up until your child feels comfortable reading alone, read a story to him or her at least once a day. Reading stories to your child builds vocabulary, develops imagination and, above all, gives your child a taste of what reading can offer-unlimited access to worlds of adventure, achievement, excitement and knowledge.

2. TALK ABOUT THE STORIES. After you have read a story to your child, talk about it. Discuss the characters. Find out if your child enjoyed the tale. Look at the illustrations together and talk about what is happening in them. Talking about a story and its illustrations helps build a child's awareness, comprehension and powers of self-expression.

3. ORGANIZE a quiet, family reading time with your child at least once a week. This special time, devoted to your child and centering on books and stories, will have a tremendous impact on your child's reading ability if it becomes a regular feature of your family life.

4. ROLE-MODEL. Remember, you are your child's principal role model. The more you read to your child, and the more your child sees you reading, the more likely he or she is to become a fluent reader. Be a positive role model. But there is more to the process than this.

5. YOUR ACTIVE SUPPORT in associated areas is another key to your child's reading skills. Subscribe to magazines for your children. Take them to the library. Provide them with a plentiful supply of exciting and interesting reading material. It is up to you to make reading stories a pleasure.

6. PERSIST. Once a child has begun reading on his own, parents often stop story-telling. Keep reading to your child for as long as he or she keeps expressing the desire to hear stories. This is the most powerful way of motivating your child to read.

7. LOOK at the amount of time your child spends on television, video, electronic games and computers. Consider whether this is too much. However, do not forbid these activities entirely. A total ban may be seen by your child as punishment, resulting in a negative attitude toward reading.

8. USE your child's interests to build their interest in reading. For example, if your child loves sports, provide him or her with sports stories. Don't go against the grain. Work with it and reading will rapidly become your child's friend.

9. SELECT GOOD STORIES. Above all, choose stories that your child enjoys reading. Achieving fluency in reading is a long process and needs a high degree of motivation. This is why StoryPlus provides a vast and ever-growing range of stories with exciting plots, captivating characters and imaginative settings which will provide powerful motivation for readers of all ages and all levels. These stories are easily accessible so busy parents can be confident that, through StoryPlus.com, their children have access to the best reading material available.

Research demonstrates that the size of a young child's vocabulary is a strong predictor of reading-preschoolers with large vocabularies tend to become proficient readers (National Research Council, 1998). Children's vocabularies can be greatly enhanced by talking and reading with their parents. In fact, the vocabulary used in the average children's book is greater than that found on prime-time television (Hayes & Ahrens, 1988).