It’s widely acknowledged that a child who learns to love to read does well in life and that is our aim – to get children reading – whilst also enjoying the process.

Children who read with a parent enjoy feelings of warmth and security and as a result listening to a story becomes a positive experience. However, for some children, learning to read becomes a real struggle. This is why Yap Books have invested in the concept of multi-sensory learning.

Traditional book sales are on the rise again. Holding a book offers a special experience – the colours, the layout, the photos and even the typography all combine to make picking up a book an enjoyable experience. Historically, ebooks may be convenient, but they do not offer any kind of sensory experience. This is where Yap Books are different.

It has been proven time and again that multi-sensory learning benefits all children, and especially those with dyslexia or dyspraxia, because it offers an alternative way of conveying information by stimulating more than one sense at a time. A child who struggles with reading can still engage in a story through images or video, and we believe all children deserve the right to enjoy the wonder and creative stimulation a good story can bring.

Yap Books has introduced sound and voice-activated animation to the reading experience. This is both stimulating and enjoyable for children and makes reading a digital book a far more engaging and rewarding experience than it has been up to now. The instant gratification of modern technology has been blamed in part for killing off interest in reading, but we are turning that on its head.

From as early as the 1930s, when the Orton-Gillingham method was conceived, there has been an understanding of the importance of multi-sensory learning. However, much of the current curriculum is based on single-sense learning, which is why so many children struggle to read – and so few develop a love of reading.

All children learn differently, and so by giving them the opportunity to learn in different ways, you can operate a more catch-all approach to teaching reading.

Broadly speaking, there are three modalities (or sense-based ways of learning): auditory, visual, and tactile-kinaesthetic (touch and movement). Visual learners will learn by seeing the words and the images or video together, auditory learners primarily need to hear themselves speak as they learn, and tactile-kinesthetic learners benefit from touch and movement. All these elements come together in a Yap Book.

We believe that reading is the building block of almost all future learning. A child who learns to read well is far more likely to do well at school, but also more likely to be confident and thrive in life. Enjoy a good book on World Book Day and share a story today.

#ReadingMatters #Learningisfun #Howwelearn