Enriching Education: How Families Can Make Summer a Season For Building Children’s Language, Literacy, and Learning Skills

  ASHA Stresses Simple But Effective Ways Parents and Caregivers Can Help Kids Make Progress as Concerns About Lower Test Scores in Reading and Other Areas Persist

With most of the nation’s schoolchildren now on summer break, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is encouraging families to prioritize reading this summer—a fundamental activity that is more critical than ever as data continue to show student declines in literacy and math since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the latest version of The Nation’s Report Card, produced by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the average reading and math scores of 13-year-olds nationwide in 2022–23 declined by 4 and 9 points, respectively, as compared to 2019‒20 scores. Last year’s Report Card showed that in 2022, average reading scores were lower for both fourth- and eighth-grade students compared to 2019.

While school systems continue to dispatch various resources and approaches to help students catch up, parents and caregivers can support their child’s learning at home—something that’s especially important during the summer when most children aren’t in school.

Daily reading is a simple but effective way to build language, literacy, and learning skills. ASHA urges families to use the summer to nurture joy in reading and let kids be the ones who choose what they read. ASHA offers the following tips to help encourage reading and learning:

• Embrace all kinds of books. Don’t assume that kids only learn by reading traditional novels. Children reap benefits from unconventional options as well. Graphic novels can be good choices, especially for reluctant or struggling readers, as can audio books.
• Create a book nook. A comfortable spot can make reading more enticing. Let kids design their own special place for reading. They may want to pick out a blanket, some pillows, and other accessories to make the space their own. Give them a small budget and let them manage their money as they select items (plenty can be found in the home for free too).
• Start a book club. This could be a family book club, or one with neighbors or friends. If you’re reading together as a family, remember that even older children benefit from being read to out loud. There are many book series that all members of a family can enjoy.
• Cook together. Cooking is not only fun, but educational. Reading and choosing recipes from a cookbook or online, shopping for the ingredients, and preparing the meal can all build literacy and math skills.
• Plan day trips. Explore local parks, museums, art galleries, aquariums, zoos and more. These places offer hands-on learning, lots of new vocabulary, a chance to practice reading informational signs, and an opportunity to visit a different time or place. Many of these attractions are free or low-cost. Those that aren’t may offer special student rates or summer promotions.
• Play board games together. A sneaky way to build skills such as turn taking, direction following, memory, problem-solving, and vocabulary, board games are also a great bonding experience for families. There are plenty of online recommendations, including from The New York Times. Other fun activities are scavenger hunts and escape rooms.

If a family has concerns about a child’s communication, social, or reading/writing skills at any age, ASHA encourages them to contact their child’s school or early intervention program for an evaluation. Speech, language, reading, and writing milestones for children in grades kindergarten to fifth grade can be found on ASHA’s website.

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About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)

ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 228,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel; and students. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment, including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) identify, assess, and treat speech, language, and swallowing disorders. www.asha.org