Why Reading With Your Child Is So Important: A Speech Pathologist’s Guide toBuilding Language and Early Literacy

If you've ever wondered whether reading with your child really makes a difference, the answer is a resounding yes.

As Speech Pathologists, reading together is one of the first activities we recommend to families. Not because we're trying to create early readers, but because shared book reading is one of the most powerful ways to develop language, communication, and early literacy skills.

Long before children learn to recognise letters, or sound out words, they are learning the building blocks they will need to become confident readers.

The best part? You don't need expensive resources or formal lessons. Just you, your child, and a favourite book.

Why Is Reading Important for Children's Language Development?

When children share books with caring adults, they are exposed to rich language that isn't always heard in everyday conversation.

Books introduce children to:

• New vocabulary

• Early concepts such as colours, numbers, shapes and actions

• Opportunities for conversation and connection

• More complex sentence structures

• Storytelling and sequencing

• Emotions and social situations

• Problem solving

These experiences help build the language skills that support communication, learning and later academic success.

Reading Starts Before Your Child Can Read

Many parents worry about reading every word correctly or keeping their child focused on the story.This makes sense, but the good news is that there is much more to reading, than focusing on every word written on the page.

Shared book reading begins long before children are ready to listen to the written text. For babies, toddlers and young preschoolers, books are about interaction.

Rather than reading every sentence, try:

• Pointing to interesting pictures.

• Naming objects, actions and emotions.

• Using gestures and facial expressions.

• Making animal sounds or fun voices.

• Following your child's interests.

• Talking together about what you notice.

For example, instead of reading the entire page, you might simply say:

"Look! A big, brown bear."

"The baby is sleeping."

"Uh oh! The ice cream fell!"

These simple interactions help children connect words with meaning while building attention, vocabulary and shared enjoyment.

Less Quizzing, More Modelling!

It's natural to ask children lots of questions while reading. While questions certainly have their place, constantly testing what children know can sometimes interrupt the flow of the story.

Instead, Speech Pathologists encourage families to spend more time modelling rich language.

For example:

• Instead of: "What's that?"

  Try:"That's a gigantic elephant! He's spraying water with his trunk."

• Instead of: "What happened?"

  Try: "Oh no! The little girl dropped her ice cream. She looks really disappointed."

When children repeatedly hear rich vocabulary used in meaningful contexts, they gradually begin to understand and use those words themselves.

Think of yourself as your child's language model, not their quiz master.

Did You Know Reading the Same Book Again Is Actually a Great Thing?

If your child requests the same story every night, you're not alone. Although adults often crave variety, children learn through repetition.

Each time a familiar book is read, children can:

• Understand more of the story.

• Learn new vocabulary.

• Notice details they previously missed.

• Predict what comes next.

• Join in with familiar phrases.

• Build confidence and comprehension.

Repeated reading also gives parents opportunities to expand language.

The first time:

"The bear is sleeping."

A few days later:

"The tired bear is sleeping in his cosy cave because it's winter."

The story stays the same, but your child's language opportunities continue to grow.

Reading Together Supports More Than Reading

Research consistently shows that early and consistent parent-child shared reading, predicts stronger language and literacy outcomes.

Children who regularly experience book sharing are more likely to develop:

• Larger vocabularies

• Better listening comprehension

• Stronger expressive language

• Improved reading comprehension

• Better literacy achievement throughout school

Interestingly, research has also found that shared reading is associated with improved performance when solving mathematical word problems.

At first glance, this may seem surprising, but it makes perfect sense. To solve a maths word problem, children first need to understand the language used in the question. Strong language skills help children interpret vocabulary, sentence structure and meaning before they even begin the mathematical reasoning.

Language really is the foundation for learning across many subjects.

Reading Is About More Than Sounding Out Words

Many people think learning to read is simply about recognising letters and sounding out words. In reality, reading is much more complex.

One of the most influential models of literacy development is Scarborough's Reading Rope.

This model explains that skilled reading develops when two “strands” of information become tightly woven together. These strands are:

Word Recognition

This includes:

• Letter knowledge

• Phonological (sound) awareness

• Decoding (sounding out)

• Automatic recognition of words

Language Comprehension

This includes:

• Vocabulary

• Background knowledge

• Understanding spoken language

• Verbal reasoning

• Literacy knowledge

Both strands are essential in strong reading development.

A child may accurately decode every word on a page but still struggle to understand what they have read. Likewise, children with strong language comprehension are better prepared to understand increasingly complex texts as their decoding skills develop.

Shared reading is one of the very best ways to strengthen the language comprehension strand long before formal reading instruction begins.

Our Top Tips for Reading With Your Child

✔ Start reading from infancy.

✔ Let your child choose the book.

✔ Don't worry about reading every word.

✔ Talk about the pictures.

✔ Use gestures, facial expressions and interesting voices.

✔ Model rich vocabulary instead of asking lots of questions.

✔ Read favourite books repeatedly.

✔ Most importantly…make reading enjoyable!

Positive reading experiences build positive readers.

Final Thoughts

Reading with your child isn't about creating the earliest reader in the class. It's about building connection, curiosity, communication and confidence.

Every shared story helps develop vocabulary, comprehension and critical thinking skills that children will rely on throughout school and beyond.

At Steps Together Children's Therapy, we love helping families discover simple, everyday ways to support communication and learning, and reading together is one of the very best places to start.

References

• Scarborough, Hollis (2001). Connecting Early Language and Literacy to Later Reading (Dis)Abilities: Evidence, Theory, and Practice.

• American Academy of Pediatrics. (2014). Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice.

• Mol, Suzanne E. & Bus, Adriana G.. (2011). To Read or Not to Read: A Meta-Analysis of Print Exposure From Infancy to Early Adulthood.

• Noble, Kylie G. et al. (2019). Reading Aloud to Children: The Evidence. Published in Pediatrics.