Reading is a good way of getting into writing but ensure that the words are being read correctly. It begins with single words, signs and advertisements, until phrases and short sentences are developed. Repetition is a must and the same approach can be used with counting. In fact that's the easy bit. Keeping the interest going can be difficult. This struggle used to be more noticeably prevalent with boys and much research went into producing boy centred stories. It matters not a jot if a child doesn't find reading materials interesting gender is not responsible.
George Layton (1942 - 2024)
George Layton, a comedy actor turned his hand to writing and created a set of characters, mostly boys getting up to boys' antics, including Norbert Lightowler. Excellent stories read to the children I taught in the 90's. Look out The Fib, and other stories, just gentle fun that some boys could get into.
Comics
Comics are a step up towards independent reading and these tended to be backed up by annuals around Christmas time. Within this genre there was a gradation of sorts. For me it was the Dandy and the Beano followed on by The Hotspur as I became older.
Such publications as the above would see a child comfortably through to high school. After the age of 11 what we read was often dictated by the schools we attended and many of the classics were taught for the next 5years, but what happened at home was a lottery.
These days the plethora of reading materials for all ages is available in many forms and on a variety of platforms but where reading is failing to progress perhaps parents need a closer grip on what is being read. Just because a child is gazing at a screen is no guarantee that words are being decoded and understood.
Talking about books then becomes important.
God Bless
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