Reading to children and teaching them to read do different jobs
A five-year longitudinal study of home literacy and reading development
Reviewed by Sian Trombley, CCCFounder, Thrive Family Company
Strong confidence
Source citation
Sénéchal M., LeFevre J. A. (2002). Parental Involvement in the Development of Children's Reading Skill: A Five-Year Longitudinal Study. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00417
Published 1 January 2002 · Added to Thrive 26 July 2026 · Reviewed 26 July 2026
Share this
'Read to your child' is the standard advice. This study shows it is only half the picture.
Published research findings
The study
Sénéchal and LeFevre followed 168 children from kindergarten through grade three, measuring shared reading and direct teaching of letters and words at home.
What researchers examined
How informal exposure and formal teaching each contributed to vocabulary and decoding.
What they found
Shared storybook reading predicted vocabulary and listening comprehension. Parents directly teaching letters and words predicted early decoding skill, which in turn predicted later reading fluency.
Thrive editorial interpretation
What this may mean for families
Both matter, and they are not interchangeable. Stories build meaning; explicit teaching builds mechanics.
What this doesn't tell us
Important limitations
A single, relatively advantaged Canadian sample.
Evidence confidence describes how much weight this study's design can carry — not how strongly the finding applies to any individual child or family.
Therapist perspective — Thrive interpretation, not a finding of the study
Therapist Perspective
Ten minutes of shared reading and two minutes of sounds is a stronger routine than twelve minutes of either.
Practical family considerations
Read for pleasure and teach letter sounds — they build different skills.
This research summary is educational and does not replace individualized medical, psychological or therapeutic advice.
Share this
Highlighting and re-reading barely help — testing yourself and spacing do
2013 · Systematic review
Strong confidence
Why it matters
Homework routines should be built around retrieval and spacing, not around time spent reading notes.