By Dee Tadlock, Ph.D.

My mother was in need of some quiet time to put the finishing touches on the dinner she was preparing for our house full of company. She sought my older brother’s help.

“Doug, will you please take the little kids into the other room and read them a comic book?”

My brother didn’t want to be interrupted from the game of Parcheesi he was playing with his favorite cousin.  He looked at me, his little sister. “Let Dee do it,” he replied.

“Don’t be silly,” Mom said. “She can’t read. She’s too little; she hasn’t been to school yet.”

“Yes she can,” argued my brother. “Show her, Dee.” He ran into his bedroom and came out with a comic book. I read it out loud to my mother with ease and comfort.

A look of amazement filled Mom’s face. “How did you learn to read?!” How did I learn to read with no instruction? My family accidentally provided the environment my brain needed to figure it out for itself, but you can do it on purpose!

There are three things the brain needs to figure out any process, including reading: (1) a concept of the end result, (2) intent and (3) opportunity to figure out the parts of the process that are implicit—or, below the level of conscious awareness. This month, we will explore the first two of these things: internalizing a concept of excellent reading and establishing intent to become an excellent reader.

A Concept Of The End Result

If you grew up on an island where everyone either goes barefoot or wears flip-flops, you would never learn to tie shoes. Not because your brain is incapable of learning that skill, but because you wouldn’t have the opportunity to build a concept of the end result of the process. You cannot learn to tie shoes if you don’t know what a tied shoe is.

For excellent reading ability to develop, it is essential for children to know—below the level of conscious awareness—what excellent reading is. How do you help your child develop this all-important concept? Read to her! If you are an excellent reader, you are automatically modeling excellent reading. Your child will notice that reading sounds as natural as conversational speech, with the pace falling into an appropriate range and the tones and language flowing naturally. If you’re not an excellent reader, there are still highly effective things you can do to insure that your child develops an appropriate concept of excellence. For example, locate simple books with short sentences on each page. Read them to yourself over and over until you can read them comfortably and naturally, then read them to your child.

Whether or not you are an excellent reader, if you misspeak or ‘stumble’ as you read, take advantage of the opportunity to deepen your child’s concept of excellent reading by saying, “That didn’t feel comfortable. Let me read it again.” This will communicate to your child that, to the reader, an excellent read feels comfortable.

As you read to your child, avoid over-dramatizing stories. Doing so for fun is OK occasionally, but it should not be the norm because it conveys that dramatic theatrical reading is the goal and, hence, the standard for excellence. A developing reader needs to know that excellent reading ability is not dramatic. Instead it sounds natural to the listener.

Other ways to enable your child to internalize a concept of excellent reading:

• Buy books on tapes or CDs (or check them out from your library).
• Record books from your child’s library so she can listen and follow along when you aren’t available to read to her. (As you create the recording, it’s helpful to provide a signal, such as a bell or a tap on the table, to indicate when it’s time to turn the page.)
• Participate in story hours at your Community library.
• Encourage other family members, neighbors and babysitters to read to your child.

Intent

It takes a lot of mental energy for the brain to figure out a complicated process, so why would it expend the energy if it didn’t really care whether it could do the process or not? It wouldn’t! In order to learn how to read with excellence, your child must form intent. It is intent that fuels the mental force required to build knowledge. When intent wavers, we cease to perfect our performance.

Intent and motivation are not the same things. Motivation is a surfacelevel external event. Children can be motivated to clean their rooms by the promise of cookies or gold stars when they’ve finished. But external motivation has limited, and usually short-term, effect. The child who has internalized intent is tapping into implicit biological processes. He wants to clean his room because he has intent to have a clean room—not to get a cookie. Self-driven intent empowers the brain to expend the mental energy required to develop efficient, effective systems for cleaning the room—and to keep using them. You can help your child form the strong internalized intent required for reading development. Here’s how:

Encourage Your Child To Value Reading

• Read often for your own purposes in your child’s presence. Comment occasionally on what you’re learning, how much you’re enjoying it, etc.
• Read to your child whenever and wherever possible—waiting for an appointment, in the car, before naptime and bedtime, when distraction from a skinned knee is needed, when you simply want to make a personal connection.
• Provide opportunities for your child to choose reading: “Do you want to turn out the light and go to sleep now, or do you want me to read you another story?” “Shall we eat lunch now, or do you want me to read you a story first?”
• Make affirming statements to your child regarding the value you place on reading: “Thank you for letting me read to you. I love to read” “I wish I had more time to read.”

Communicate The Usefulness Of Reading

• In the presence of your child, share what you learn from reading: “I read a really interesting article that said...”
• Share what street and building signs say.
• Write and read love notes to your child.
• Help your child dictate and mail a letter or card to people he loves.Talk about how the recipients will enjoy reading it.
• Follow recipes as you cook with your child. Make a ‘big deal’ out of reading the recipe.
• Create lists with your child by brainstorming what will be needed for an up-coming project. Refer to the list as you start the project and as you continue and complete it.

Help Your Child Feel Excited About Reading

• Keep a variety of books at home.
• Visit bookstores and libraries together and show excitement about books.
• When you’re going on a trip, read your child books designed to enhance the experience.
• Talk to your child about the stories you are reading together: discuss the events and tie them to your child’s life, ask him which characters he liked best and why, etc. Also, let your child hear you discussing what you are reading with others. • Read books to your child that provide a heads-up about a specific event For example, going to the dentist, a visit from grandparents, giving the dog a bath, etc.

Subtly Set An Expectation For Excellent Reading

After reading to your child, occasionally say things like: “Won’t it be great when you can read stories on your own? Then you can read to me!” or “When you’re an excellent reader, will you still let me read books to you?” Grandma said to tell you that as soon as you know how to read, she wants to be the very first person to hear you read a story.”

These activities need to be light and relaxed, not mandates for your child. One of the greatest barriers to the formation of intent is anxiety. It is possible to cause children to become anxious about their reading development if they begin to feel that they are not meeting a time schedule that their parents have set. Relax and enjoy the journey—don’t force it.

About the Author:
Dee Tadlock, Ph.D. is the founder of Read Right Systems, in Shelton, WA and primary author of the book “Read Right! Coaching Your Child to Excellence in Reading.” www.readright.com

April 2007