Reading with your child

Is it simply reading the texts on the page to the child? That is one way to expose the child to hear new words and be exposed to the cadence of how a story is told. It is a great resource for exposing the child to language structure and promote language development. Make your child an active participant, point to the pictures and ask them questions! This can be achieved by using different levels of questionings, from simple, concrete questions to more difficult and abstract questions. 

What sort of questions to ask when reading

There are 4 levels of questioning developed by psychologist Marion Blank that can be applied to support the child’s language development when reading books:

Level 1: language is focused on what can be seen, such as naming. The answer is directly on the page

• What is this? (Pointing to the object)
• What is _____ doing?
• What did you touch?
• Say this “_____” (Imitation)
• Can you find one like this? (Matching objects)

Level 2: language is focused on specific aspects of the questions. Think and search, the answer is in front of you but you need to look for it

• What happened?
• Who/what/where is ____? (Remembering information)
• Describe characteristics of objects. Eg colour/size/shape/taste/smell/feel
• Identify object functions. Eg. Point to the one that we use for ____
• How are these different?
• Tell me something that is a type of _______. (Name object from the same category)

Level 3: reordering and restructuring ideas. Questions are not about direct objects, the answer is not in front of you. The listener will need to use clues from the book to form their own answer.

• What will happen next?
• What is a ______? (Definition)
• What could he say? (Assuming the role of another person)
• How are these the same? (Identify similarities)

Level 4: solving problems at a higher level. The answer is not in the book – it is your own opinion.

• What will happen if_____? (Predicting)
• Why did ____? (Justifying cause of event)
• What could _____ do/use? (Solution)
• Why could _____ do that/use that? (Explaining means to goal)
• Why can’t we ________? (Explaining obstacle to solution)
• How do we know______? (Explaining observation)

These different levels of questioning can help stimulate the child’s interest and encourage them to explore the world around them using their inquisitive minds. All the while, promoting their language development and expanding their vocabulary. 

Written by Yi-Jiun Liu, Speech Pathologist at De Silva Kids Clinic.