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Literacy: A Parent Primer, Part 1: Pre-school
 Questions and Answers
Q: What’s the point of reading to a baby before the child can even understand what you’re saying?
A: It is never too soon to begin reading with a child. With infants, the point is not that they understand you, but that they hear your voice. Reading to newborns exposes them to the sounds of human speech. Newborns cannot see as well as adults, but their hearing is acute. It is not so important what is read to children in the first few months, just that something is read. Reading out loud to a baby while on one’s lap, in a bouncy seat, or even poised on the floor is an important first step in helping children learn language.
Because of their developing visual acuity, experts suggest choosing books with high contrast. Books with black and white illustrations held about 12 inches from the child’s eyes are believed to be most effective with very young babies. Parents should select stiff cardboard “chunky” books or fold-out books that can be propped up in a crib. Washable cloth or vinyl books can accompany children in their bath.
Talking with infants, likewise, provides infants with exposure to language. Routines such as feeding, bathing, and diapering are ideal opportunities. Sharing lullabies, short songs, and rhythmic activities are just as important as conversations.
Learning about language in these ways hardwires children’s brains; a neuron is assigned to every sound in the native tongue that a child hears. Language thus provides a strong foundation for literacy.
Q: I keep hearing that it’s important for parents to read aloud to children every day. But why is this one thing so important?
A: Reading aloud is indeed considered the most important thing parents can do to help their young children develop literacy skills. Here’s why:
Reading aloud…
· Sends children the message that reading is a wonderful activity. The warm, nurturing bond that is created becomes motivating to children.
· Is a social event- a shared activity, filled with discussion and involvement.
· Teaches children book awareness. From being read to, children learn that pictures provide clues to stories, that books and print go from left to right, that print represents written language, and that stories have a beginning, middle, and end.
· Helps children make sense of their world and understand why things happen and how the world works.
· Fosters connections between what children know and have experienced and the ideas and information that are read aloud.
· Promotes empathy and understanding as new characters and subjects beyond the child’s immediate sphere of reference are introduced.
· Increases children’s vocabulary by exposing them to the unique and rare words that are the language of books—words that don’t always come up in conversation. (Most conversations focus on 10,000 commonly used words. To be a good reader, though, one needs to comprehend the rare vocabulary that seldom emerges from conversation, and is typically found only in print. To illustrate, when an adult converses with a three year old, he typically only uses 9 rare words per thousand spoken. In reading a picture book for to a three year old, that same adult will read, on the average, 27 rare words to the child)
· Improves a child’s attention span and ability to listen. Studies of reading aloud to infants have shown that babies’ attention spans stretch from three to thirty minutes after just a few read aloud sessions.
· Increases children’s abilities to comprehend written texts. Listening comprehension is directly correlated with reading comprehension. Because children can listen on a higher level than they can read, reading aloud makes complex ideas more accessible to them.
· Teaches children how to read expressively, as they imitate the vitality with which a book was read aloud to them.
· Encourages children to stretch their minds: it stimulates the imagination, hones observation skills, enhances listening skills, promotes curiosity, and gives children practice problem solving.
· Models for children how fluent readers read and reflect on what is read.
Q: Does it matter how I read aloud to my child…or is it just important that I read?
A: It is the act of reading which is most important. However, we do know that there are things you can do to maximize the benefits of the reading experience. Experts recommend you do the following:
· Try to establish a regular time for reading aloud.
· Find a quiet, comfortable place. With a young child, snuggling together while reading is important.
· Remove background distractions so that the reading experience takes precedence.
· Select a book that you like (and have previewed) and that you think your child will like, too.
· Point out the cover illustration and the names of the book’s author and illustrator.
· Have fun bringing the characters and events to life. Read with expression.
· Read slowly enough for your child to take in the words and look at the pictures.
· Stop during the reading to invite the child to complete a predictable phrase or sentence, to guess what might happen next, or think about how he or she might react in a similar situation.
· Encourage questions
· Watch the child’s body language to see if you need to take a break.
· Talk about the book afterwards. Be sure to elicit the child’s reaction.
· If the read aloud experience is of a frequently read book, ask the child to retell the story in his own words
Q: I know I should be reading to my child, but ’m not confident about my own literacy skills. Is there somewhere I can go for help?
A: Look no further than your public library. Many libraries sponsor Bonding with Baby programs. The typical program consists of a series of 12 picture books and a training video for parents. The picture books are filled with colorful images of interactions between parents and babies. The books contain no words; rather, the scenes depicted are designed to encourage parents to create their own dialogue. The training video provides information for parents about sharing these books with their infants, with advice on how to pick the best time to share a book, how to get baby's attention, and how to talk about the pictures.
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