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14.3.9.1: Parenting Strategy- Dialogic Reading

  • Page ID
    197620
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    Reading with Your Infant

    For parents, reading with your young children is such a natural activity. Maybe you have an easily-accessible bookshelf in a common area (e.g., living room, playroom, etc.,) where your child can pull out books during the day or maybe each time before they sleep you have established a reading routine. Reading is an activity we know is important, beneficial and easy to include, even in our busy days. 

    While reading with infants and toddlers has numerous benefits, you can further enhance the experience through a practice called dialogic reading. Think of dialogic reading as having a child-led, back-and-forth conversation about a book that goes beyond the words on the page. Many times parents read with infants and toddlers by focusing on the words on the page. Dialogic reading challenges us to go beyond the words and perhaps even ignore the words. 

    Next time you sit down to read, try these tips:

    1. Let your child lead the reading. Before you even start to read the words, allow your child to show you what interests them about the page. Pictures books are beautifully illustrated–this is what pulls them in, not the words. What specifically catches their attention? Then start your “reading” by having a conversation about whatever part of the illustration interests them. Importantly, allow their interest to guide the conversation and use this opportunity to add vocabulary, memories and insight to the conversation. Of course, you can always come back to the text on the page, but there is not a requirement to read every word on the page before moving on. Continue the conversation until you feel a new page is needed to inspire the next conversation. 

    2. For older toddlers, there are prompts you can use to help engagement and further turn-taking. The most common one is using Wh-questions, such as asking “What do you think is going to happen next?” and “Why do you think the character is making a face like that?” A great prompt that is not utilized as much as it should be, are distancing questions. These prompts use the book to reflect upon relatable memories. In this way, they momentarily distance the child away from the book, as you discuss memories inspired by the book. For example, a child notices a pumpkin in a book and you have a conversation about when you took them to the pumpkin patch, picked up a pumpkin from the field and rode on a tractor. 

    Reading is such a great way to engage with your child and can be done in everyday routines like before sleeping. Dialogic reading can be used to further enhance the reading experience by allowing your child to lead the reading and providing strategies to further the turn-taking conversation. 


    14.3.9.1: Parenting Strategy- Dialogic Reading is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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