Post by Sara V.H. 

While any form of shared reading and exposure to books is beneficial to a young child, dialogic reading is a form of shared reading that can greatly assist in the development of a young child’s language skills. Dialogic reading “involves reading with, rather than to, the child” (Atkinson, 2013). With dialogic reading, the adult involves the child in the book, encouraging them to participate through prompts, providing feedback to the child, and adapting the way they read to the child based on their developing skills (Atkinson, 2013). While there are a number of ways to engage a child while reading, literacy initiative Reading Rockets uses the acronym CROWD as a guide for parents to engage their children.

• Completion prompts - having a child finish a sentence in a rhyme scheme to help them learn the structure of language
• Recall prompts - asking a child to tell you what happened in the story to help them understand plots, either at the beginning of a familiar story or at the end of a new story
• Open-ended prompts - asking a child to explain what is happening, especially when there are strong images, to help develop their expressive abilities
• Wh- prompts - asking a child the “5 W’s and H” - who, what, where, when, why, and how - to help develop the child’s vocabulary
• Distancing prompts - asking a child to relate an aspect of the story to something outside of the story, such as an aspect in their own life
  (Whitehurst, 2017)

These simple prompts can help a child engage more in the story and gain more from storytime.
  
To see dialogic reading in action, visit your local Aurora Public Library for a storytime! A complete schedule can be found at AuroraLibrary.org or here.

Below is also video showcasing dialogic reading.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8jetjDEF4w

Resources

Atkinson, A. (2013). Critical review: Does dialogic book reading improve overall language skills in preschoolers? University of Western Ontario: School of Communication Science and Disorders. Retrieved from https://www.uwo.ca/fhs/lwm/teaching/EBP/2012_13/Atkinson_A.pdf

Whitehurst, G. J. (2017). Dialogic reading: An effective way to read to preschoolers. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/dialogic-reading-effective-way-read-preschoolers
Rx for Success (2016, Sept. 14). Rx for success: Dialogic reading. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8jetjDEF4w