Step 7 Questions on Comprehension
Questions on comprehension usually come down to vocabulary or visualization. Vocabulary was covered. Let’s discuss visualization.The whole purpose of reading is comprehension. Comprehension opens your world to people who lived thousands of years ago. And opens it to people who never lived at all. Coupled with your imagination it can take you to far off galaxies and to nearby cities. In order to couple your comprehension with your imagination you need to create a movie in your mind. This is called visualization.
In order to measure comprehension ask questions about what your child is reading. You can also develop better comprehension by discussing what is read. However, it is very important to accept that your child is not an adult. She may not see things the way you do. For example, a four year old may not retell a story sequentially. She may just tell the parts that interested her the most. Just accept her viewpoint as a viewpoint. In your discussion don’t correct. Model the behavior you want. Simply pull out the details that support a sequential story. This creates great comprehension.
Visualization
If you discover that your child reads fluently, but doesn’t understand anything then she may not be visualizing. Most people run a movie in their head as they read. This visualization allows them to picture and understand what they are reading. But some just don’t naturally do this. So if your child understands the vocabulary, but isn’t visualizing I recommend having him read and explain jokes. Jokes are short and have a high visual component to them. And they are fun! For example, “Why are frogs so happy? Because they eat whatever bugs them.” In order to understand this joke the child must see the frog eating bugs. Similarly, in Rocket Phonics we also use Simon Says where the child acts out what he reads. Of course, Lindamood-Bell offers a course on this as well.
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