Dialogic Reading
The dialogic reading approach will help support your child to enjoy and be confident in reading books. This practice encourages adults to use the pictures along with prompts and cues to actively engage children in the process of reading. In dialogic reading, the adult helps the child to become the teller of the story. The adult becomes the listener, the questioner, and the audience for your child.*
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*Dialogic reading is based on the work of Dr Grover Whitehurst and the Stony Brook Reading and Language Project.
The ‘PEER’ technique
Parents should follow the ‘PEER’ technique:
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• Prompt your child to talk about the book;
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• Evaluate your child’s response;
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• Expand your child’s response, by rephrasing and adding to it, and;
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• Repeat the prompts to make sure your child has learned.
Using ‘CROWD’ with the ‘PEER’ technique
It is helpful to use the acronym ‘CROWD’ to help remember the type of prompts you should use with the ‘PEER’ technique.
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Completion: Leave a blank at the end of a sentence and encourage your child to fill it in.
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Recall: After sharing a story, ask your child to recall what happened in the book, e.g. “What will we see on the ground outside the nursery?”
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Open-ended: Using the pictures in the book, ask your child open-ended questions, e.g. “Why do you think mummy and daddy have to wear a face mask?”
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'Wh': When reading the story, try to use what, where, when, why and how questions to help teach your child new vocabulary.
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Distancing: Use the pictures or words in the book to encourage conversation about your own experiences, e.g. “Do you remember when we did gardening at home?”