WHAT?!? No way! I have met countless parents who have said this to me over the years. My response is always, “Well, they haven’t had ME read to them yet.”

I have not met a child – across various significant diagnoses – that do not enjoy being read to. This moment of invaluable bonding over a book is commonly referred to as shared reading. Unfortunately, most parents give up on reading to their child after repeatedly faced with their child’s off-task behaviors. Allow me to reassure you of this fact, most children do not independently sit and attend to a story. Please do not allow your child’s off-task behaviors to stop you.

Children must be lovingly nurtured and taught how to sit and attend throughout learning tasks. In so doing, children must be allowed to develop their listening skills. Quite different from hearing (the ability for the ear to receive various speech sounds across different frequencies), listening requires a person to process the spoken language and participate in a necessary response. Shared reading is a vitally important strategy that is necessary for developing a child’s listening, cognitive, and language skills. Children who actively participate in shared readings with a parent and/or caregiver have increased cognitive skills, substantially larger vocabularies, and language skills.

Let’s be brave together. Let’s work as a team to give our children the loving encouragement to develop and strengthen their cognitive, vocabulary and language skills. Let’s invest in their academic abilities and educational success. Let’s cuddle up with our children, love the moment, and read!

Here are a few strategies to increase your child’s love of shared reading:

1. Pictures – Pictures - Pictures. For toddlers and young children, choose books that have vibrant, engaging pictures or photographs. Choose books whose illustrations or pictures are detailed and larger than life. The illustrations or pictures should tell the story. For a young child developing listening skills, I may not actually read the story itself. Instead, I enjoy the illustrations and pictures along with the child. I gently take the child’s hand and use their finger to point to and label (name) various objects in the picture. If the picture is of a girl running after her puppy, I label both nouns and verbs for the child. Allow your child to enjoy being engaged in the pictures. With this enjoyment in a relaxed, nurturing environment, they are well on their way to developing a love for reading.

2. Potty Time Is Reading Time. Make your endless time during potty training a fun, learning experience. While your child is seated in the bathroom on their “potty”, sit down in front of them with a great book! Take advantage of the fact that they are occupied and can’t run away from you. Also, the bathroom is usually a smaller environment with less distractions than other rooms in most homes. This allows young children to learn how to attend (focus) on a task while gaining necessary listening skills.

3. Bath Time Shared Reading. For children who love playing in the water during bath time, use this valuable activity to sit alongside the bathtub and read a wonderful book to your child. While they may be playing with toys, trust that they are actively listening as they occasionally look at you actively label various objects/actions in the pictures. This activity is especially good for children who may tear pages from books, unable to sit and attend during a learning task, or require the sensory support of water to calm and regulate them for active listening and learning.

4. Performance Please. Children are naturally drawn to people with positive energy, excitement, and enthusiasm. You must enjoy the book with the same youthful exploration and excitement you desire from your child. In so doing, your modeled behavior with surely inspire them to explore alongside you! Increase your excitement throughout the reading and your child will surely follow.

Your presence and consistency are invaluable throughout this process. Let your children know that you value them and are making them your primary and only focus by detaching from the noise (TV, mobile phones, barking dogs) and focusing on them. Your child will quickly appreciate this time – not for the books – but for being with you and the books. Shared reading builds positive parent-child relationships, increases a child’s self-esteem while increasing their vocabulary and language skills in the home.

Bravely read to your child every day. You can do this!