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My child can't read? What can I do? Many parents are asking these questions and feeling frustration from the powerlessness they feel. They ask the child's teacher what they can do, and the teacher either says, "Just read together," or gives you workbooks which frustrate your child even more. You want to help your child, but you are not a professional teacher and you don't know where to begin. You read books, magazines, on-line articles, and half of them don't make sense while the other half are so simplistic that you feel like you already do what they advise. Your child knows letter sounds and reads familiar books, but somehow is not doing well in school. How can you help your child learn to read better?

First, you must recognize that what people mean by "reading" now entails much more than it used to. When a teacher says, "Your child is not reading on grade level," it does not mean your child cannot sound out the words. This is called Decoding, and most of the time, this is not specifically the problem. The teacher means comprehension, defining vocabulary used in the text, comparing and contrasting themes or actions in a story, and summarizing a story. This is only a part of what your child, even as young as first and second grade, is expected to do while reading. When you read together, help your child sound out difficult words, but also stop and check for comprehension. Ask your child to tell you what just happened in the story. You may be surprised how difficult this is the first time you ask. However, the more you do it, the easier it will become. As for the other facets to reading, there are many workbooks in stores today which can help you work on specific skills.

Make reading meaningful. This is where most children are missing the boat. They do not connect what they are reading with any value in their lives, and so they do not care about analyzing it or figuring out what unfamiliar words mean. When you want to learn something, you read. Reading something your child really wants to know with him will give you the opportunity to help with vocabulary and showing your child tricks you use to understand what you read. Your child should learn those same skills. If your child has a small cut, go to the internet site WebMd.com and help your child read what to do about the cut. Then, follow those steps. If your child wants to know what type of "cool" car you just passed, go to the library in the next couple of days and look it

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