READING aloud to children will not guarantee they can read later on, an experienced Canberra literacy coach says.
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One of the business partners behind Literacy for Life, Pam Harders, said many parents of children with poor literacy were surprised because they had read to their children from a young age.
Part of the reason was because children could remember the words, but not read them.
''Children need to be equipped with effective reading strategies,'' she said.
''It's about tuning them in to the meaning of the word, to make sense of what they're reading.''
Literacy for Life often teaches children two years behind in their reading and writing, although Ms Harders did not know the proportion of Canberra kids lagging in literacy.
Common mistakes parents made included interrupting when their child was stuck on a word, instead of giving the youngster time to work it out.
''About 10 seconds to themselves to think about a word is what is needed,'' Ms Harders said.
It was also best for mum or dad to continue looking at the book, teaching the child about being focused on the task.
''Children must learn you don't get the word from looking out the window or looking at mum,'' Ms Harders said.
Techniques include sounding out difficult words or, when this does not work, starting the sentence again.
Sometimes it was even okay to skip words, according to Ms Harders.
''It is okay to use substitutes as long as they're meaningful substitutes,'' she said.
''Or skip the word, read on and come back to it later. We all do that.
''Sometimes children get the impression that it's not an okay thing to do. But if you do it once every 50 words, or even every 20 words, that's okay.''
Parents are encouraged to read to their children from birth.
Sharon Wright, who gave birth to Benjamin on Thursday, was one of the many parents at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children's postnatal ward in recent weeks given a T-shirt for her baby which had the words ''Read to Me'' printed on the front. The director of U-Can Read in Canberra, Kaye Lowe, said the number of parents wanting tips on how to teach their kids had increased. ''Parents in the past relied on strategies they learned when they were at school,'' said the Associate Professor of Literacy at the University of Canberra. She suggested daily reading to a child. ''The important thing is to make it the most fun and exciting 10 minutes of the day.''
