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The Importance Of Early Reading Skills

Decent Essays

Reading is a skill often taken for granted but it is essential in order to progress in life. For a child being able to read well helps them learn new things, give ideas and enables use of imagination. National literacy trust (2015) suggests that children’s early language skills can have a major impact on a child’s development of literacy skills. Five-year olds with poor language and literacy have a higher risk of underachieving at age seven and beyond. Reading skills encourage more opportunities in life and it can affect a child’s wellbeing if they do not achieve this effectively (Finnegan,2015).

For a child who is just starting to learn to read, they need sufficient practice in reading a variety of different books to achieve fluency. Reading can be complex and has many different aspects (Burns,1999). It is suggested that children who have problems reading and writing at a young age will find it hard to catch up as they get older and will not reach their full potential as adults, many will withdraw from school or society and some becoming involved with crime (MacBlain,2014). 40 percent of children find learning to read a challenge but with early help, most reading problems can be prevented (Reading Rockets, n.d.).

This resource had been created to encourage a child to learn to read through play. It is in the form of a game and it is aimed at helping a child repeat the words that extra practice is needed from a book that has been read. The resource created is a game that incorporates play and praise in which are essential skills to support a child that is learning something new. Games enable all children to develop skills without pressure and are particularly important for children who may be less confident (Lindon, 1993). The ‘Let’s Read’ game can be used for a variety of ages as the words can be changed and personalised depending on the child’s reading ability. This game is a good way of helping to teach a child to read and improve on words that they struggle with because it is taught by learning through play, therefore the child is less aware they are learning and it is a fun way to practice. The child is also receiving praise and reward through the star reward sheet that comes with the game. By

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