What are the Milestones of Early Literacy Development?

A child’s success in reading comprehension is often determined by what milestones of early literacy development they reach.

These milestones can include phonological awareness, vocabulary development, comprehension skills and fluency in reading. Mastering these concepts in early childhood is critical for a child’s academic success and cognitive development. While these skills are learned early on, they impact every subject a child will encounter in school.

Laying the Foundation

Working on these skills can begin when the child is 6 months old, well before they are able to begin Kumon at 3 years old. At that age, learning the developmental foundations of literacy can begin by looking at pictures and pointing to pictures before moving onto more complex cognitive functions. Before age 3, they can work on filling in words to stories, reciting parts of well-known stories, coordinating text with pictures, reciting whole phrases or familiar books to themselves.

During these early stages, parents can help in a variety of ways, including reading at bedtime, asking questions, pausing to let a child complete a sentence and letting them control the book. Parents can also be the first to notice whether a child is struggling during this time.

Maybe the problems first emerge as they try to recognize sight words, or in their speech and blending sounds together. Those issues can quickly become frustrating obstacles without a specific approach identified for them to learn.

Practicing for Kumon Possibilities

Kumon’s early learner reading skills program focuses on personalized education plans that are tailored to each student’s needs. Kumon Instructors aim to develop strong reading and comprehension skills in young children to help foster a love for learning.

Kumon’s program centers around a customized learning plan that will target where your child is in their development. From there, regular and consistent practice is essential through Kumon’s process. Children who follow the recommended study schedule and consistently complete their daily practice experience better results.

Kumon’s Instructors can help support a variety of early literacy skills to help your child stay on track and be ready for kindergarten when the time comes. At 3 years old, when Kumon’s early learner program begins, they are set up for success from the start.

It’s important for a child to feel confident in their studies. The earlier you can instill self-confidence in them, the stronger they can grow. As they get older, students can be expected to lengthen their attention span by listening to longer stories, retelling familiar stories, moving their finger along with text, writing their name and moving toward recognizing their letters. Other associations, like between pictures and sight words, can also be worked on with Instructors at this stage.

These skills build to help their reading fluency, comprehension, critical thinking and the reinforcement of what will become their independent reading habits that will help them throughout their lives.

Here is a link to the Kumon Reading Program for more information: https://www.kumon.com/reading-program