Article provided by Reading Rockets, Colorin, Colorado, and LD OnLine

One way to help a child comprehend what they are reading is to encourage them to visualize parts of the story in their mind. These “mental movies” helps clarify and increase understanding that extends throughout genres. The pictures they imagine can include any of the five senses.

The books you read with your child may already contain intricate illustrations, so try a visualization practice with the longer books you use to read aloud. You may also sit facing your child and read a few pages without your child, looking at the pictures. Then follow these few simple steps to provide your child with practice developing their mental images:

• Begin reading. Pause after a few sentences or paragraphs that contain good descriptive information.
• Share the image you’ve created in your mind, and talk about which words from the book helped you “draw” your picture. Your picture can relate to the setting, the characters, or the actions. By doing this, you are modeling the kind of picture making you want your child to do.
• Talk about how these pictures help you understand what’s happening in the story.
• Continue reading. Pause again and share the new image you created. Then ask your child to share what he sees, hears, tastes, smells and feels. Ask what words helped him create the mental image and emotions. By doing this, you are providing your child with practice with this new skill.
• Are your images identical? Probably not! This is a great time to talk about why your images might be different. Perhaps your child went on a school field trip or had a school assembly that changed the way they created the picture in their mind. Perhaps experiences you’ve had as an adult influenced what you “drew.” These differences are important to understand and respect.
• Read a longer portion of text and continue the sharing process.
• Once this is a familiar skill, encourage your child to use mental imagery when she is reading by herself. You can feel confident that these mental pictures will help your child understand the story in an important way.