Comprehend
means to understand.
Understanding the
text or spoken word is of utmost important for the learner. If the learners can read but do not
understand or connect to what they are reading, that reading will be robotic,
meaningless as well as purposeless. So first as a parent, teacher or a tutor you
need to find out if the child has a problem with comprehending. Can he/she
understand what is being read, written or asked? This can be easily found out
through the formal assessment methods at school or asking simple questions to
the child or you can look for any of the following signs:
- You
get to hear “huh” or “what” more often from them when being talked to
- Has
trouble following spoken directions, especially if they’re more than one
step
- Is
easily distracted, especially by background noise or loud and sudden
noises
- Has
trouble with reading and spelling, which involve understanding sounds
- Has
difficulty with oral (word) math problems
- Has
trouble following conversations
- Has
poor musical ability
- Has
difficulty learning songs or nursery rhymes
- Has
trouble remembering details of what was read or heard
Do not jump to
conclusion
if your child has any of the above mentioned signs. Discuss the matter with
your pediatrician, school teacher, school counselor as these are the people who
have known your child for a long time.
Once you have understood that the child
is having difficulty in comprehension you can start helping the child in your
own small ways. Making this a big issue to be discussed in front of the child
has to be avoided. Take the child in
confidence, let him/her know that you understand their problem and are ready to
help. This will take away all the resistance they have to learn.
Techniques to improve
Comprehension
When
students have trouble reading, it can affect their performance in many
subjects. Poor reading skills and comprehension can lead to frustration, low
self-confidence, and poor grades. But difficulty with reading and with
comprehension is something that can be improved with regular practice. By
learning to read effectively, your child can build skills that will help
improve his or her reading skills and comprehension.
Reading comprehension is the ability to read a sentence and understand its meaning. It is
the ability to look at written words and process the meaning or ideas behind
them. Reading comprehension is not just understanding a single word or its
meaning—it is the ability to recognize words, sentences, and paragraphs and
make sense of the overall meaning.
Following
are the techniques you can use to help your child:
- 1 Help them read using a ruler, pointer
or pencil. For example your child has to read an essay about zoo in
your city. Help the child to make connections. If you have been to the zoo,
mention about the time you have been there and the good things you did at the
zoo. Let the child share his/her thoughts. Connecting what your child already knows
while he/she reads sharpens his/her focus and deepens understanding.
- When working with your child, asking questions will make your child
want to look for clues in the text. Pose questions that will spark your child’s
curiosity as you read aloud. Do ask in between about what they are thinking. Let
them know that by asking questions you are helping them to understand. Eg: If you are
reading about a park in your neighborhood, ask questions like “what do you like
the most in the park?” Use pictures to help them answer.
- Making inference or drawing a conclusion while reading
might help the child understand better. This will help the child by engaging
is/her attention in the story that is being read. Eg: “She was looking
beautiful in her new dress and ready to leave”, we can infer that she was
probably ready for a party and was prettily dressed.
- While reading with your child you need
to develop a strategy where the child can let you know that they do not
understand. Say for example if the child stops in between you can Re-read. Ask
them if “now does it make sense?” Read out loudly and slowly and use pictures
to make your story more interesting.
There are many FREE online resources (www.englishclub.com,
www.understood.org, www.k12reader.com,
etc) you can use to help your child in developing comprehension. If you do not want to use these resources you
can use simple small paragraphs which you can make yourself, something is used
as a conversation and make your own worksheets.
For example:
References: