With summer approaching and fear of the summer slide settling in, I am getting lots of questions about how to help young readers.

Sometimes, I think people are looking for the perfect answer. Some type of magical response that can only come from a specialist. Something that they, as parents are missing.

In fact, the answer couldn’t be simpler.

When I stumbled on the above while browsing Facebook yesterday, I immediately asked for permission to post the picture.

Sometimes, I think words can be heard so often, it’s easy to ignore them. A picture though, really is worth a thousand words. Sorry for the cliche… couldn’t be helped.

If you are looking for a visual of how to help a young reader in your life, look above.

Read aloud. Listen. Talk. And read again.

And if you don’t believe me, listen to this.

In 1985 the government commissioned the report, Becoming a Nation of Readers, to examine the state of literacy education in the country and to determine best instructional practices. This report continues to be the gold standard today.

And do you know what all their fancy research showed?

It showed exactly the same thing as the picture above..

The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.

The single most important and the single most simple thing are one in the same.

Let’s celebrate that fact by finding our favorite book and our favorite child and reading. That is all…