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Teach Kids to Read

Teaching kids to read opens a whole world of communication to them. My child is non-verbal, but she has been reading since she was 2 or 3 – we could tell by her reading off the grocery labels (“bread” … “crackers”) to herself one day, in the kitchen.

This has helped us in a number of ways. Once my child could read these social stories to me, I was sure that the information made it from her eyes, through the brain and out the mouth, which helped us all, in that we knew she was listening. It also meant that when I could not understand a word that she said, I could type what I thought she said in a google search and hand her the phone and she could correct it. It wasn’t “sign mass” she was saying – it was “cinemas” she wanted!

Of course we read to her and we always had lots of books – but we were also both work-from-home computer professionals, so she had a natural and early interest in computers and computer games that we would share with her. I would put her on my lap with a big book across her lap for keyboard or mouse and we had a great time playing and learning together.

I have compiled a guide to help get kids comfortable with online tools. We also offer site suggestions for safe educational games and software suggestions for games that do not require internet. We also have a great list of holiday games which are fun, and some prepare kids for fireworks holidays, also, which can be really helpful.

Once she was able to direct her own computer experience, we set up shortcuts to our favorite web sites and we found the single most important site that we used to help our kids learn to read was Starfall.com – far and away the best. After just a few months of using this site, each of my girls were reading everything they saw and they loved the fun and songs on Starfall. Years later I would still hear my Iris sing the old songs or play those old games.

There are lots of wonderful apps for phones available, too, but it is best to save those for doctor’s office waiting rooms only for as long as you can, so your child doesn’t expect to use it all the time – and be sure to model the behavior you want to see in your child. If you are always on the phone, they will want to be, also. My kids enjoyed Fruit Ninja, Where’s My Water and Cut the Rope, in addition to puzzle apps, when they started using the phone. Maybe I should do a App Suggestions page, too. Let me know if that would help you.