Six Ways to Improve Reading Comprehension Help your child keep what he reads—a crucial skill, especially as he gets older and needs to gain important information from textbooks. Have him read aloud. This forces him to go slower, which gives him more time to process what he reads. 71 Provide the right kinds of books. Make sure your child gets lots of practice reading books that aren’t too hard. 72 Stopping any more often than that to figure out a word makes it tough for him to focus on the overall meaning of the story. 73 To gain meaning from text, your child needs to read quickly and smoothly—a skill known as fluency. Rereading familiar, simple books gives your child practice at decoding words quickly so he'll become more fluent. Talk to the teacher. If your child is struggling hard with comprehension, he may need more help with his reading—for example, building his vocabulary or practicing phonics skills. Supplement class reading. If his class is studying a particular theme, look for easy-to-read books or magazines on the topic. Some prior knowledge will make his way through tougher classroom texts. Talk about what he's reading. This “verbal processing” helps him remember and think through the themes of the book. 74 For example: ● Before: “What interests you in this book? What doesn't?” ●During: “ 75 Is it turning out the way you thought it would? ” ●After: “Can you summarize the book? What did you like about it?” A．Reread to build fluency. B．What's going on in the book? C．Look up new words in the dictionary. D．Do you know all the characters in the story? E. Ask questions before, during, and after a reading session. F. Plus, he's not only seeing the words, he's hearing them, too. G. He should recognize at least 90 percent of the words without any help.