Skills for teaching children to read

A literacy and language development specialist will offer an information session to parents and teachers on how to develop the foundational skills of reading for children next month.

Ms Rosemary Ruthven from Active Learning Centre International will present the Reading Starts With Rhyming session at the Beachside Family Centre in Umina from 10am on Tuesday, September 21.

Ms Ruthven is a literacy specialist, language development specialist, international presenter, senior trainer, published author and a certified screener for perceptual dyslexia.

"Learning to read is a science and involves a lot more than simply learning your ABCs," Ms Ruthven said.

"In fact, many parents and teachers are not aware that teaching their toddlers to sing the ABC song before other key reading concepts are in place does more harm than good.

"There is a right way and a wrong way to introduce children to the alphabet.

"Knowing the right way to introduce the alphabet results in children reading very quickly; many times before kindergarten.

"On the other hand, introducing letter names to children before they have phonological and phonemic awareness inevitably impedes their reading progress.

"To put it simply, phonological and phonemic awareness refers to the ability to differentiate one sound from another and to be able to manipulate those sounds to form new words.

"For example, we need to be able to hear the difference between pin and pan and to understand that if we substitute other sounds for the first sound in pan we can make ran, can and man.

"As adults, this seems so easy and natural, people assume children learn these concepts automatically.

"They do not.

"This has become even more apparent since the tradition of singing nursery rhymes and reading poetry in the home has become almost a relic of the past.

"Erroneous beliefs about how reading works are hard to undo and inevitably result in parents spending time and money on reading interventions later on," Ms Ruthven said.

In the presentation, Ms Ruthven will share some practical tips on how parents and teachers can teach their children phonological and phonemic awareness in a fun way as they go about their normal daily routines.

The cost for attending the presentation is a gold coin donation.

Seating is limited and reservations are a must by calling Debbie Notara on 4343 1929.

Press release, 2 Aug 2010 Rosemary Ruthven, Active Learning Centre International