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A Back to School Must Have!

When you help your child with their home readers or listen to them read, do you find that they, or you, become anxious and frustrated? Rather than being a pleasant experience, is it a tense time and you just wish it was all over? If you’ve answered ‘yes’, you’re not alone and if you’ve answered ‘no’, then we want what you’ve got!

For many parents and others who assist children as they learn to read, it’s a difficult time, especially if your child struggles with reading. Unless you have learnt how to teach children to read, it’s unlikely you’ll know how to do it. You may have a vague memory of how you learnt or what your parents and teachers said to you. Despite your best efforts, though, some of what you do as you support your child has the potential to turn them off reading.

When it comes to reading, Australian children are being left behind. International and national testing shows that Australia has the second largest proportion of children below the international intermediate benchmark among English speaking countries. Results from PISA show that reading standards have fallen dramatically this century. While NAPLAN results reveal some improvement in the percentage of children at National Minimum Standard (NMS) since NAPLAN was first introduced in 2008, children only have to get approximately 25% of the reading questions correct to be considered at NMS. Your child’s NAPLAN results may give you the impression that everything is fine when it may not be.

It’s important you say and do what will foster reading development, rather than discourage it. So, what are the best ways to encourage and support your child? Helping children become better readers … a guide for parents, caregivers, teachers and aides gives practical, and easily implemented approaches to support the developing reader. It identifies the reading behaviours of successful and less successful readers so you can see if your child is likely to make progress or not. The majority of the book is organised in the following way:

If your child … This identifies the reading behaviour

Then: This provides a possible reason or reasons for the behaviour.

So, you can: These are suggested ways to respond to the behaviour. Choose from several suggestions.

This is because: These are the reasons for the suggested ways to respond.

In a nutshell: This is a summary of the main points.

If you follow the ideas in the book, home reading will be enjoyable for you and your child your child will gain confidence, develop a love of reading and be more likely to seek a book for entertainment than a screen. Nobody persists with something they find too difficult, so it’s critical parents set their children up for success. We know that a small gap between your child’s reading level and that of others quickly becomes a large one that is almost impossible to close. Without strong reading skills, schooling is difficult for your child.

This book is available in all good bookstores and online at www.boolarongpress.com.au

This competition is shared and powered by mom.Connect

Please note this competition is open from 3rd February 2022 until 3rd March 2022 and is only available to members of Mouths Of Mums. This competition is a game of skill – answer in 50 words or less. We are unable to accept entries posted via facebook. Facebook LIKE functionality is not a requirement of entry to this competition. The winners of this competition will be published on this page. Winners’ name and address will be provided to the promoter of this competition and prizes will be sent to the address you have in Your Profile. Please ensure your details are up to date so that you receive your prize.

Winners for this competition

  1. R. WoodNSW
  2. I. HarveyNSW
  3. J. ByrneQLD
  4. P. ChandraNSW
  5. N. CartwrightVIC
  6. C. ScarfoSA
  7. H. KilpatrickNSW
  8. J. SpagnoloNSW
  9. A. O'DwyerNSW
  10. R. MashfordNT
  • I’ve read to my kids every night since they were babies. They love it, my eldest whose 6 insists on reading himself now!


  • Encouraging shared reading, multiple books throughout the home that are available.


  • I try to read every evening to my daughter and also encourage her to read to me. Sometimes she gets lazy so I put a movie on and tell her to read all the subtitles. Or get magazines with pictures and she reads form it.


  • Read them a story every night using colorful book


  • My 8 year old has ADHD and we struggle to get him to concentrate and enjoy reading. We’d really appreciate some hints and tips and this book sounds like a great start!


  • I help by doing reader and sight words with her – it usually ends with one of us crying (me), and one of us threatening the other to never do it again (her). We aim for each night, it’s a magical experience for all involved ????


  • I assist my nephew with his reading by trying to sound out the letters first, and then stretch them out as he was diagnose with a speech and language delay.


  • I’m studying to be a teacher so I’d love to be able to have this to read back to front so I am prepared for the struggles but also prepared for my own kids


  • My child has just started school and is learning her letters. Our preparation has been reading nightly before bed 2 stories. It’s made her enjoy books and want to learn to read so she can do the same for her baby sister


  • I want for my son to learn to read as soon as possible and open a new world for him.


  • Other than school we read a book each night. Children will choose their book and sit with my while I help them sound out the words. We also look at the pictures to help them with what the words could be.


  • We sit down in quiet, one on one, and he puts his finger under each word as he reads, trying to get him to break up larger words or sound them out but it is very hard, he has attention difficulties.


  • I’d love to win this as I’m a librarian and teacher aide at my school. I’d love to learn more and share the experiences and ideas from this book with all the staff and children at our school.


  • By reading books that they love together. They are a bit young but we are learning together and cheer when we get it.


  • Read with them lots


  • By reading books to them from an early age. Get them excited about books and writing when they’re little


  • Differents strategies to see which ones he responds best to. He will help me teach him to read as long as I listen to him and his needs and interests.


  • Working within a school we highlight the need t take on the challenge to read. Proudly showing my boys the way was an experience which has always been positive. Teach them to read and who knows what they will come. Powerful way to be successful be patient and boost the avid reader to do their best.


  • I’m a speech pathologist so I help many children read! I would love to review this book and help share it with other mums to assist them to help their children 🙂


  • Narrative, Persuasive, Informative text reads,
    Illustrated, Riddles, Poetry or even Joke books,
    Non-fiction, Fiction and dramatic themes,
    These are a few of the styles my child reads!
    (Sing to the tune of the Sound of Music ‘My Favourite Things)


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