What are the best books to start teaching a child how to read ?

Question

My son will be 5 in may and i want to start teaching him how to read. He was diagnosed with PDD NOS (mild autism) ,so he had some delays. I just need guidance on what books you recommend for me to start with.

Answer 1

Hello! I am going to speak in general terms because teaching a child with special needs to read is no different then teaching a typical peer to read. The difference is that it may take longer. There is no one method that works for all children. There is no one program that will work with every child. You know your child and you can ask your sons teacher what she feels are his strengths and weaknesses. I would use his strengths to support his weaknesses while teaching reading.

1) Young child typically start with picture books. These are the hard cardboard books. They have bright pictures and typically few words. You can take the same types of books and branch out to create additional books, language and vocabulary for your child.  These books are for self reading and shared experiences.

2) Shared reading books that you are reading have more words on the page. These are emergent reading books. These books would give your children repeated exposure to words he may have seen and can point out to you during conversation about the book and page. Before you would read to your child you walk through the book just looking at the pictures, asking the child to find things on the page and talking about what you see. Asking questions about what do they think the book is about. These are the books "Clifford the Big Red Dog", Mem Fox books.

3) Books that have a repetitive line are great because you help your child understand prediction and learning new words and vocabulary. 5 little monkeys is an example of a story that is repeating. The reason for this is that you want to allow your child to get to know a story and be able to share the story with you. He reads to you once he knows the story. Model pointing to the words. Model sounding out words.

Here is a great reference site. It talks about communication boards but it is just about language and making things concrete. http://www.aacintervention.com/litboards...

Typically when you teach early reading skills you work on letter identification - letter sounds - blending of sounds and to specific strategies of how to make these letters and sound make words. The question that often debated is if a child doesn't get that step what next. I typically recommend whole word - I don't work just on dolch sight words but environmental print and important words to the child.

One of the areas of reading deficits that appear is not the ability to read words but the comprehension. The links below will help you with supporting comprehension.

Answer 2

d**k and Jane books. They are classic.....and they work! Also, check into LeapFrog! Their learning toys are the best! Oh, and remember, stay calm, you need lots of patience. In my experience stick with the old way of learning vs this new stuff they are teaching in school. You will really enjoy the old d**k and Jane books. Have fun!!!

Answer 3

Hooked on Phonics is probably one of the very best methods to teach a child how to read.

http://hooked-on-phonics.com/

It has been around for a good while and is well proven.