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How Parents Can Help With Reading Comprehension at Home

If you’ve noticed that your child has fallen behind their reading grade, you will want to help with reading comprehension at home. The good news is that there is plenty you can do at home to help your child with their reading comprehension. As an experienced reading tutor, I know what works, so I’m going to give you my best at-home tips for improving reading comprehension.

Key points

• To help your child with reading in the long term, you can set up a reading schedule that gets them reading daily
• For an immediate action today, read a story with your child and ask them to explain it back
• If your child is stuck on a word, help them understand it by using vocabulary context
• Whenever your child reads at home, ask them questions before, during and after reading to assess comprehension — this is part of the questioning reading strategy
• If you find these exercises still aren’t helping, you might want to explore personalized tutoring

How to help kids with reading comprehension at home?

Parents can significantly improve reading comprehension at home by reading and speaking with their child regularly. You can sit with your child as they read a passage of text and ask questions about what they are reading. Then, once they have finished the passage of text they’re on, you can ask them to give you a 30-second retelling of what they’ve just read. 

It’s a good idea to time your child each time they read a short section of text to keep them focused and help them work on reading comprehension at home. Then, you can ask two prompts, which could be “What’s the focus of what you’re reading?” and “Who are the characters involved?”, before asking them to recap the text in 30 seconds.

Reading comprehension methods: 4 at-home routines you can use today

• 3-question script (before/during/after)
• 10-minute routine setup (time/place/book choice)
• 2-minute comprehension moves
• Support toolkit

The 3-question script (before/during/after) + sample prompts by grade

The 3-question script, where you ask your child questions before, during and after they’ve read a passage of text, is a reading 101 method for assessing reading comprehension both at school and home.

The questions you ask before reading can either focus on predictions if it’s a new piece of reading material. Next, you should ask questions while kids are reading. These questions can again focus on predictions, but they can also dig deeper into what’s happening. Finally, after reading, you should ask your child questions that focus on summarizing the story, the questions they have, where they might take it next and more. Answering questions aloud helps them make sense of what they’ve read.

Prompts for each stage per grade

	Before reading	During reading	After reading
1st grade	What do you think this story will be about based on the picture on the cover?	Sum up what has happened in the story so far based on your prior reading.	Can you summarize the story from start to finish with oral language, including key events?
2nd grade	What type of characters do you think will be in the story?	Is there anything in the book you don’t understand so far, like words or sentence structures?	Did you enjoy the ending or would you change anything?
3rd grade	Do you think this book is fiction or non-fiction?	What do you think will happen next in the story?	What were your favorite and least favorite parts of the book, and why?
4th grade	What do you already know about this topic?	Do any of the events in the story so far relate to your own life?	What lesson did you take away from this book?
5th grade	Based on the cover and blurb, what do you think the genre is?	Have your predictions for the book changed based on what you’ve read most recently?	If you were to write a sequel, what would you include in it?
6th grade	What do you think the setting of this book will be?	What do you think the main character is feeling right now and why?	What was the theme of the book, and do you think it changed throughout?
7th grade	Are there any connections you can make between this book title/cover art and your real life?	Do you have any new questions about the characters or plot?	Can you summarize the major events in the book in chronological order?
8th grade	What questions might this book answer?	What is the main conflict of the book and how do you think it can be resolved?	If you could ask the author a question about how the book ended, what would you ask?
9th grade	Does the cover say anything about the tone or topic of the book?	Are the characters of the book developing at all?	What do you think the author’s purpose was, and did they achieve it?

10-minute routine setup (time/place/book choice) + consistency rules

When it comes to how to help with comprehension at home, how, where and what your child reads make a big difference in how well they read, so setting a consistent routine creates the perfect environment for focus and comprehension. It’s also important to start in short bursts, gradually increasing time as they improve. Start with just 10 minutes.

To set up the perfect active reading routine, consider the following factors:

• Environment
• Distractions
• Book choice

Your child’s environment should be quiet and comfortable. Then, make sure you remove all distractions, like phones, tablets and other devices. Finally, make sure your book choice is one they’ll be interested in. When first honing their literacy skills, choose age-appropriate print books on their favorite topics or featuring their favorite characters to pique their interest and increase focus.

Finally, make this routine consistent; children should read in short bursts daily or every other day. You can also explore more activities to improve reading comprehension on our blog.

2-minute comprehension moves

Another way for parents to help with reading comprehension at home without it feeling like too much work is through two-minute comprehension moves. These quick exercises strengthen skills in a fun and fast way:

• Retelling the story or piece of text they’ve just read
• Summarizing the main idea of the content they’re reading
• Visualizing a story or book by drawing or acting it out
• Writing about what they’ve written, whether it’s a summary or analysis

Support toolkit: Vocab in context + background-knowledge boost + sentence frames

The final method for how to work on reading comprehension at home is developing a toolkit to support your child when they’re struggling with vocabulary or understanding a piece of text. Here are some tools you can use:

• Sentence frames: These prompts are a form of scaffolding and allow students to articulate and form their thoughts more clearly. You can give your child sentence frames to use including:
  • “I think … because …”
  • “The main idea is …”
  • “I know … to be true because …”
  • “I predict … will happen because …”
• Vocabulary in context: Sometimes, children might encounter words they’re unfamiliar with, but they can use the surrounding context, like the words around it or the wider content before and after
• Building background knowledge: Studies have shown that when kids have background knowledge on a subject, they can comprehend written material on it better. Help them understand the topic better to improve comprehension

What causes lack of reading comprehension?

Symptom	Possible cause	What to try now
Difficulty in understanding words and getting letters jumbled up	Dyslexia	Use multisensory ways to deliver content, including audiobooks and physical tools
Difficulties with taking in and memorizing written text	ADHD	Create a routine and encourage your child to read in short 10-minute bursts
Struggles with remembering what they’ve read	Memory problems	Break text up into small chunks and ask questions before, during and after reading
A lack of focus on reading materials	A distracting environment	Remove all distractions from your child’s environment, including phones and game consoles
Slow reading	Not enough practice	Set a schedule for your child to read consistently and monitor their words per minute

 

Do parents help with reading comprehension at home?

Yes, parents can help with reading comprehension at home. In fact, it’s important to support your child if you notice they are having difficulties with reading. Your support can boost their confidence, because a lack of reading comprehension can affect their self-esteem.

What can parents do to help struggling readers?

Parents can help kids with reading comprehension by:

• Reading stories together at home every day as families
• Speaking to them about what they’ve read or their day to strengthen vocabulary
• Setting a consistent routine of reading in a distraction-free, comfortable environment
• Giving them a toolkit of strategies for reading better
• Asking questions before, during and after reading sessions to get an awareness of their comprehension

If you continue to spot these red flags, it might be time to consider alternative options like personalized tutoring:

• Slow reading speed
• Not absorbing information
• Poor vocabulary
• Inability to summarize a piece of text

Brighterly reading comprehension program offers reading tutoring adapted to children’s individual needs, ensuring they only work on content that improves their reading comprehension.

Tutors can enhance children’s reading development through personalized, gamified learning and by using additional tools that may not be suitable for parents to use at home. Also, children can access different free reading comprehension worksheets and reading tests for students in grades 1-9 to cement their knowledge outside of their sessions.

You can also find out more methods for helping struggling readers on its blog.

Parents help with reading comprehension at home PDF

Check out this printable help with reading comprehension at home PDF resource for more tips.

Conclusion

Reading comprehension is an essential skill children need to learn to succeed both in school and in life. It is one of many important reading abilities — if you find that your kid is struggling with reading more generally, you can find extra tips in our how to improve reading skills blog.

As well as taking your child through different reading comprehension strategies, you may also want to consider personalized tutoring if they are still finding it difficult. Brighterly’s tutors use tailored strategies focused on your child’s specific needs to ensure they are reading at their expected level.

Book free reading lesson  today to boost your child’s reading comprehension.