We live in an information society and literacy is the key to success in it. Being a good or excellent reader will be a huge advantage for your child over the coming years.

Kids who enjoy reading often read 2-3 books a week, the same as some children read in months. So the advantage they have is increasing all the time.

Here are 5 techniques we use in our Easyread System to help a child develop a love of reading:

TIP 1 - Don't Use Books

You probably think I'm nuts now! But we have seen so many children who have travelled down the wrong path, because of early reading books. It isn't the right way for a child to first start reading.

You see, a clever kid will look at an early reader book and memorise the words that keep being repeated, and guess the others from the context. That gives the impression of progress. But the child is driven to more and more guessing as the books get more complicated.

This leads down a blind alley of despair, as your child gets more and more confused. And you will see a strong resistance to reading practice appear.

TIP 2 - "Dimensionalise" the Phonemes

Phonemes are the little sounds that make up words. And there are 43 of them in English. You can find them at the beginning of your dictionary. We need to make sure your child is familiar with them.

But phonemes are non-physical, abstract objects and very hard for your child to remember. So what we do is create strong visual characters to represent each one. For instance, for the sounds of the letter A we have the ants in pink pants, the ape in a cape and the ark in the park. Those are things your child can visualise and so remember.

The majority of your child's memory capacity is visual.

TIP 3 - Play These Games

We are avoiding books. So what else can you do?

Well, in Easyread we use games like these:

Build-A-Word. Take 6 plastic letters including 2 vowels. Revise the main sound of each one. Then say a simple 3 letter word that your child can built with these letters, like bed, dog, fat or mop.

Select-A-Word. On a piece of paper, write three similar words, like hot, hat, pat. Read one of them out loud and ask your child to select which word it is.

Nonsense Words. This time, use your plastic letters to write a simple nonsense word like gab, hin, mub or wid. Ask your child to read it.

Easyread-I-Spy. This is just like the classic "I spy with my little eye..." game, except that you use the first sound of the word rather than the first letter.

TIP 4 - Less is More

Never do more than 10-15 minutes of reading practice in one go. That is the most your child can do without losing concentration. Struggling on is counter-productive.

TIP 5 - Try Easyread TrainerText

TrainerText is how we let a child read unaided, while learning. The visual image for each phoneme in a word is floating above the text, so that the child can check if a word is unfamiliar. You can do the same with the images you have created in tip 2.

The great thing with TrainerText is that your child can work through the text without getting stuck and needing help. That is marvellous for developing confidence and self-esteem.

Using these techniques you will see a new confidence developing over just a few days. The children using Easyread are more enthusiastic from day 1 and have jumped forward in their reading within 3 weeks.

Childrens Books Products on our marketplace

To find more information on How To Help Your Kids Crack Literacy come to our site www.EasyreadSystem.com You can get a unique content version of this article.