‘Finger pointing’ – The Tough Question

Parent: ‘I noticed that you use your fingers to point while reading. Now my child has picked up this habit. When I was in school, we weren’t allowed to use our fingers as a crutch to read. Why are you encouraging this behavior?’

The researchers concluded that finger point reading is a necessary stage for children when they are learning to read. Here’s why:

Ø  At first, children don’t understand the concept of speech to print – that one spoken word equals one written word. This is because we don’t clearly separate our words when we talk. We don’t pause between words. Instead, we blur the individual words together.

Ø  Children need to understand that the spaces in text, the junctures between words, are makers. Early in the process, children often sweep under the text they have previously memorized, with no match at all to the print. They don’t track accurately with their eyes or know they are reading individual words. They need to understand the concept of a word as it occurs in written language. Finger pointing helps them do that.

Ø  I can’t teach word recognition if my students don’t know what a word is. In order for them to understand the alphabetic principle – students need to point to the words at first.

Ø  Once students have the idea of what words are and can see the similarities and differences among them, your child and even elders focus on sweeping through the words in sentences. Through shared reading of enlarged texts, students learn not just the concept of speech to print, but the importance of fluent, expressive reading.

Finger pointing is not a bad habit. It’s an important developmental stage and instrumental tool in reading. One has to make sure that children move past it because it’s important for them to know that reading is not about individual letters or words; it’s about meaning.