Reading with confidence

You may have already heard of 'Pause, Prompt, Praise' or the 'Three Ps' as the strategy is sometimes called.

These catchy words describe a simple technique that, used well, will help your child practise their reading and develop their reading confidence.

The principle of pausiong, then prompting and then praising in handy to remember any time your child is reading aloud to you.

Teachers and trained tutors often used a more structured version, but following tips can help you to try out Threes P's when reading with your child at home.

It's best used when your child is rading and gets stuck on words that they can't read or are new to them.

When your child comes across words that are difficult for them to read, the Three P's technique lets them have another go, self correct and , if needed, find out (be told) what the problem word is.

Important things to remember about the Three P's

• The goal of reading is to understand (make sense) of what is read, so always keep this in mind when you are prompting and praising your child.
• Try to ensure that you are relaxed, interested and supportive, which will help your child feel OK when they make mistakes or just can't work out a word and need to be told what it is.
• At home this technique will work best when your child is reading something that is well-matched to their reading level, that is, where your child can easily read most of the words in the text and only stumbles on occasional words.
• Before reading, make sure both of you are comfortable and can clearly see what is being read.

Read the full article on the School A to Z website.