Help your child improve his reading skills. Here's what you can do to ensure he reads with ease before long. 

There was an old lady
Who lived in a shoe
She had so many children 
She didn't know what to do!

If your child is in the first standard, he should be able to read this paragraph with relative ease. Is he able to do that or does he torture his way through the words? Most parents are eager to hear a child's first words and are full of concern when their child doesn't start speaking, but not many pay attention to whether their child is able to read well. Just the fact that you have enrolled your child in a play school or school is not sufficient to ensure that he starts to read with ease. A majority of elementary school children are still unable to read short simple words without a struggle. The good news is that you as a parent can make an enormous difference to your child's reading skills. 

Until the age of three you are busy teaching your child how to talk, and helping him build his vocabulary. Once he's turned three, you can start concentrating on getting him to learn to read. Chalk out a time every day, when you can sit with your child and you both can read together. While reading is visual, it has more to do with the ears than with the eyes - at least, initially. So make sure you read aloud, clearly and slowly from the book while pointing out the words. Even if you child doesn't pay much attention to the book, when he comes across the word in his school text book, he will immediately recognize it. 

Have you taught your child the ABCD song? Kids are never too young to learn it, and once they do, introduce them to the written alphabets. Get your child an alphabet list without any images, and teach her the alphabets. Then help her recall them. As there are no images, she has to rely totally on memory. Once your child can identify all the alphabets, introduce him to the chart with pictures. This helps with phonetics. 

When you are teaching your child to speak, make sure you pronounce the words properly, clearly and carefully, or your child will pick up the wrong pronunciations. Review what you've taught your child everyday. 

Teach your child to rhyme words on his own. You can start by rhyming body parts for eg. Eye-bye, leg-beg, nose-rose. In this manner not only will your child learn the names of the various body parts, but he will
also learn to rhyme words. 

The next step should be to each your child nursery rhymes. Rhymes are an essential part of teaching a child to read. Rhymes improve a child's auditory skills. 

Play a memory game with your child. This will not only increase his short-term memory, but it will also help him learn new words. While just talking to your child definitely helps, 2-way participation is better. Plus, your child will be jogging his brain cells. A great game to play is to start by saying "Mommy went to the market to buy potatoes." Then daddy can add: "Mommy went to the market to buy potatoes and eggs." Your child will have to repeat the entire sentence and add a third item to the list.