You may already know that reading aloud to young children is important.  Picture book reading provides children with many of the skills necessary for school readiness.  For instance, reading picture books with your child is a great way to teach vocabulary and help your child tell more complete descriptions about what they see.  But did you know that how we read to children is as important as how often we read to them?

Dialogic Reading is a method that helps young children become involved in the story.  Research has proven that dialogic reading encourages language development substantially more than traditional storybook reading.  (Dialogic Reading: An Effective Way to Read to Preschoolers, Whitehurst, 1992)

The first time you read a book together, you should do most of the talking yourself, making sure that you point out the names of things your child may not know. The next time you read the same book, extend the learning possibilities by trying some of the following dialogic reading activities:

• As you read, ask your child "what" questions.
• Point to the item in the book and say, "What's this" or "What's this called"
• When your child names an object in the book, ask a question about it. For example: "Yes, that's a truck. What color is the truck," "What is this part of the truck called," "What is the dog doing," or "What do we use the bowl for?"
• Let your child know his or her answer is correct by repeating it back: "Yes, that's a cow."\
• Tell your child when he or she is doing well by saying things like "Good talking!" or "That's right. Good job!"
• If your child shows an interest in a picture either by talking or pointing to it, follow it up immediately by asking questions to let your child talk.
• Try to keep your reading times fun and like a game. One way to do this is to switch between asking questions and just plain reading. For example, you could read one page and then have your child tell you about the next page. Keep your child's mood in mind. Keep in fun.
• Ask open-ended questions as you share books with your child. For instance,  instead of using specific "what?" questions like "What is this?" ask more general open-ended questions that require your child to answer with more than one word. For example, "What do you see on this page?" "What's happening here?," or "What do you think will happen next?"
• When your child doesn't know anything else to say about a picture, provide something for your child and try to get him or her to repeat it. For example: "The duck is swimming. Now you say, "The duck is swimming."
• When your child gets used to answering open-ended questions, ask your child to say something more by asking another question, like "What else do you see?"
• When your child says something about a picture, praise him or her and add a little to what's been said. For example, if your child says "Doggy bark," you might say "Yes, the doggy's barking at the kitty." In this way, you fill in the little words and endings your child left out and provide a new piece of information. Later you might ask a question about this new information: "Who's the doggy barking at?"

The information presented here is from the Every Child Ready to Read @ your library® early literacy project of the Public Library Association (PLA) and the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), in partnership with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), a division of the National Institutes of Health. PLA and ALSC are divisions of the American Library Association.

© copyright 2004 -- PLA/ALSC, divisions of the American Library Association