Many parents find that their relationship with their child becomes strained when they try to play the roles of both "parent" and "tutor". However, they want to help their child with learning disabilities improve in their academic skills. One of the best and easiest ways that parents can do this is through a home reading program. This reading program is designed to be easy for parents to implement and requires five to fifteen minutes per day.

The first step is to determine child's current independent reading level. A child's independent reading level is where he or she can read approximately 95% of the words on the page correctly. If your child is at a pre-primer level, then start with picture books. If an assessment has been done with your child, you may be able to find this information through the person who did the assessment, or from the report. It is important to begin at this easier level, and not be too concerned in the beginning with trying to challenge your child in order to make large improvements. Many children with learning disabilities lack confidence in their abilities and are usually overwhelmed with challenges. They need to feel like they can do the reading, which will help make the program enjoyable rather than an evening battle.

For children in grades K - 2, they should be asked to read for about 5 minutes. As a reward for reading to you, you should then read aloud to them. This reinforcement will only work if you read to the child after the child has done their daily reading. Another incentive for the child is keeping a list of all the books that have been read for the month and hanging it on the child's door. The books you read to your child should be at their actual grade level. In this way, the child is exposed to the same vocabulary as their peers, and also helps a child feel like they are not missing out on the books their friends are enjoying.

As the child gains confidence in his or her reading ability, move up to the next level of difficulty. If the child makes more than a couple of errors per page, drop back down to the previous level, or try to find material that is at an intermediate level. If the material is just a shade too difficult, you can try reciprocal reading; your child reads a page to you, and you read a page to them. For very young children, you may have to limit this to switching between paragraphs. If you can find plays written for young readers, the switch in reading between you and your child will be more natural.

Because children react differently to being corrected, it is difficult to suggest specific ways of doing this. Here are some general strategies:

*If the child has difficulty with scanning each line, show the child how to follow with their finger, or using the edge of a bookmark, ruler, or colored paper. For very young readers, you may have to show them how to do this with your own finger, or ruler.

*If the child has difficulty with sounding out words and they cannot read a particular word, ask them to sound out the first syllable. If they aren't sure, give them the first sound of the word. Give the meaning for the word. If this still does not help, simply give them the word.

*If they get stuck on the same word further along in the book, you could tell them, "It was the word from over here."

Of course, all of this could take time. Remember, the goal is to have the child reading at his or her independent level. Once the child is comfortable and confident with their reading, then you can start to make the material more difficult. If your child is having a bad day, or is very tired, don't hesitate to suggest reading something they have already read. It is better to keep them reading with enjoyment than set up a power struggle.

Finding sources for graded reading books is sometimes difficult. One place to start is with the resource teacher who may have programs available for you to use at home. Scholastic Books (1-800-268-3848) also provides graded books for elementary and high school-aged children. Books with a high interest level, but use simple vocabulary are also available. In this way, you could have a child in grade 9 who can practice reading books at a fourth or fifth grade level that are interesting and do not look like "baby" books. You may have difficulty ordering directly through Scholastic Books for these special materials, so you may have to ask your school to get involved in sending the books through them. Good luck! (Source: "Newslines" Fall, Michelle Joly M.A.)