Part 1: Birth Through Preschool Reading Skills

•  Teaching Reading To Your Preschooler 

(Page 1)

Recent research into human brain development is proving that parents truly are their children’s first teachers.

What parents do, or don’t do, has a lasting impact on their child’s reading skill and literacy.

For example, there is considerable evidence of a relationship between reading regularly to a child and that child’s later reading achievement (National Research Council, 1998).

But many parents are not yet making the most of simple, vital opportunities to stimulate full and healthy child development in the early years, and by extension, good reading readiness.

Brain Development and Reading In Preschooler

Children develop much of their capacity for learning in the first three years of life, when their brains grow to 90 percent of their eventual adult weight (Karoly et al., 1998).

A child’s intelligence, so long as it falls within a normal range, does not determine the ease with which the child will learn to read.

Rather, as children grow and experience the world, new neural connections are made. This orderly and individualized process, varying from child to child, makes reading possible.

As parents talk, sing, and read to children, the children’s brain cells are literally turned on (Shore, 1997).

Existing links among brain cells are strengthened and new cells and links are formed. That is why infants’ and toddlers’ health and nutrition, along with good functioning of the senses, are so important.

The opportunity for creating the foundation for reading begins in the earliest years. Moreover, many pediatricians now believe that a child who has never held a book or listened to a story is not a fully healthy child (Klass, 1998).

Given the course of brain development, it is not surprising that young children who are exposed to certain experiences usually prove to be good readers later.

Just as a child develops language skills long before being able to speak, the child also develops literacy skills long before being able to read (National Research Council, 1998).
 

Every time you speak to him, sing to him, and respond to the sounds that he makes, you strengthen your child’s understanding of language.

With you to guide him, he is well on his way to becoming a reader.
 

This site gives you information about how you can use your language skills to build your child’s skills.

We offers suggestions about how you can:

1. Talk with and listen to your child.

2. Read together with him.

3. Help your child learn about books and print.

4. Encourage your child’s early writing efforts.

5. Help your child learn to read if his first language is not English.

6. Prepare your child for success in school.

You May Also Be Interested In:

Sign Language For Babies And Beyond

You will Learn:

*How to promote early communication and language development in your child
*How to use sign language to develop reading skills
*How you can communicate with your baby much earlier
*How children make the transitions from gestures to signs to speech
*The benefits of utilizing sign language in children who have speech-delays or special needs.

Download Sign Language For Babies And Beyond And Receive These 6 BONUSES FREE:

FREE BONUS #1 - Video Demonstration of over 250 Signs
FREE BONUS #2 - E-mail Consultation to help you get started
FREE BONUS #3 - Free e-book: How to Potty Train Your Child in Five Hours
FREE BONUS #4 - Free e-book: Sign Language for Babies and Beyond
FREE BONUS # 5 - Free e-mail course: Setting Effective Rules and Consequences For Children
FREE BONUS #6 - Quick Reference Guide that will show you pictures of the signs.

Related Articles:

Part 1: Birth Through Preschool Reading Skills

• Teaching Reading To Your Preschooler - Page 1
• Teaching Reading To Your Preschooler -Page 2
• Becoming A Reader
• Talking And Listening
• Reading Together - Page 1
• Reading Together - Page 2
• Learning About Print And Books
• How To Choose Books For Your Preschooler
• Preschooler Booklist/Reading List
• Early Efforts To Write
• Reading In Another Language

Part 2: Birth Through Preschool: Activities For Developing Reading Skills in Your Preschooler

• Baby Talk
• Books And Babies

You may also be interested in the following:

Testing First Grade Reading Skills