By: Merilyn P. Valeroso, Teacher III
Angela Ong Javier Memorial Elementary School
Siniloan District, Division of Laguna
Reading – unlike other macro skills which are listening, speaking, and writing – is not developed naturally. Reading has a process that needs to be followed. If a child will not be able to acquire this as they grow older, it could pose big problems in their later life.
This is where intervention and remediation in reading come. We educators have the responsibility to develop these skills in our learners. We need to provide additional strategies and activities that will boost the reading skills of our learners – specifically in the areas of decoding, comprehension, and fluency for our struggling readers.
One cannot emphasize the importance of reading intervention. It is the make-or-break point where learners’ ability to learn other skills depends. With this, let us highlight some things to take note of as to why reading intervention/ remediation is important to every learner.
First, reading skill serves as the basic building block for learning other areas of discipline in our lives. May it be in a school where we deal with other subjects like Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies to name a few – all these require one to know how to read. Without that skill, one cannot absorb the knowledge they are learning; how much more they could put it into use. Also in our day-to-day life, we are confronted with things such as street signs, or announcements that just shows how important reading is as a life skill.
Second, reading exercises our brain cells and further improves memory retention. As Joseph Addison quoted — “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” If exercise makes our body healthy, reading makes a healthy mind as it strengthens our brain connections and builds new ones.
Third is that frequent reading improves concentration. In this time of technological advancement, people’s attention span becomes less over time. Since this activity requires one to focus only on specific reading material, it helps our learners develop the ability to be able to just sit quietly for long periods; moreover, if done in a daily manner, learners would become good readers who know how to pay attention.
Fourth, early remediation/ intervention allows our learners to improve on the reading problems that they encounter. This is to avoid these reading problems place a huge impact on their learning skills and becoming complicated as they move on with life. To make sure that basic reading skills are developed first so that they can proceed to critical and analytical skills. Think of it as a staircase – where they could not just reach the top easily without undergoing the other steps to get there. Reading poems, story books offer our students not just the opportunity to read and have fun but also the chance to identify with the characters and how they are in their lives – thus developing these skills needed for advanced reading.
To top it all, reading teaches our children to develop and enhance their self-confidence and independence. If a child reads regularly, he/she can develop strong literacy skills and become competent in other areas of life. Strong literacy skills can lead to greater self-sufficiency and, in turn, a more confident child.
There are many benefits we can discuss in early reading remediation/intervention. The thing that we remember here is how important this activity is for every learner – especially our young ones – who need a strong basic foundation in their reading skills. May this be a fun and engaging activity for every child. Let us not fail our learners. Let us help them become good readers – may it be in English or Filipino – for them to become successful and good leaders of tomorrow.
Source: https://www.libertychristianschoolmd.com/blog/10-reasons-why-reading-is-a-skill-every-child-should-develop
