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Top Five Reasons To Use Audiobooks With Struggling Readers

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Top Five Reasons to Use Audiobooks with Struggling Readers

 

Does your child struggle with reading? It’s a common problem among children, which is why many parents are turning to audiobooks for help. They are a great tool that can make reading more interesting for kids that don’t want to read. Due to all the benefits associated with audiobooks, some teachers use them in the classroom to help their students improve their reading skills. 

 

Here are the top five reasons to use audiobooks with struggling readers:

  1. Kids tend to pay more attention when books are read aloud. It captures their attention and makes it easier to stay focused on the story than it is when they read silently. 
  2. Audiobooks help kids make a connection with the story. Instead of concentrating on the words and how to pronounce them correctly, they can listen and imagine they’re part of the story. 
  3. It helps kids to improve their fluency by helping them learn how to pace themselves when reading. Kids learn how to pause between sentences and how to pronounce words correctly.
  4. The narrators make the stories come alive as they change their tone and expressions to match the scene they’re reading. As a result, kids learn how to do the same and it teaches them that reading can be fun and entertaining instead of something to dread. 
  5. It helps to improve listening skills. Since kids have to listen to the story as its being read, they learn to pay attention and listen more intently in class and to you when you’re talking.

 

Here is a common misconception that I want to clear up right now.

“Isn’t listening to the book instead of just reading it kind of like cheating?”
NO! NO! A THOUSAND TIMES, NO!
If you have somebody in your ear telling you this, here are some articles for back-up:

Where can I find audiobooks for my child?

Speech to text apps are great and there are even better ones coming out every day. One of the best I’ve seen come out in 2017 is Speechify because you don’t have a terribly robotic voice. Robots reading text really matter to kids. They want real voices. For that reason, here are some of the best choices that have the highest quality.
Since 1 in 5 students in your class are dyslexic, it is imperative to have audio text. If you are a classroom teacher with grant money or planning your school year budget, investing in audio book subscriptions, a good listening center, ereaders, and headphones are worth every penny.
  • First, look into two sites: Learning Ally and Bookshare. Call to see if your state has funding money to provide one of these audio book sites in your classroom. Many have, but sometimes schools don’t know about it.
  • Many reading anthology series and text books come with audio CDs and access to read them online. As long as your district has purchased them you should be able to have them in your classroom.
  • No listening center? Buy a pair of headphones and set a child up at a computer to read. If you have mobile tablets in your classroom, even better. I want to caution you that the voice on some e readers sounds robotic. Your child may not like having to hear a robot voice read to them. (Would you?) Always check if it’s an adult with a pleasurable reading voice.
  • Next, check some of the free sites online. Here is a pin from one of my Pinterest boards to access over 600 free audio books.
  • Use your local library for books CD.
Using audiobooks is a simple and effective way to help struggling readers become more literate. It’s also a great way to introduce good readers to books that are above their current reading level. 
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One more thing! Be sure to checkout the TpT Back to School Sitewide sale on 8/1/18-8/2/18! You can save 25% everything in my store with promo code BTSFRESH at checkout.

 

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