Is speaking and reading with my child really that important?

YES IT IS! Parents are children's first teachers and the daily interactions of reading and speaking set the foundation for early success. Reading "with" your child means you are consciously including your child in the activity. Reading "with" can look and sound like the following examples:

Having your child select the book s/he wants to read

Allowing your child to hold the book or help you hold the book

Allowing your child to turn pages

Allowing your child to point to words and pictures on the pages

Letting your child set the pace of your interaction with the reading. Some children like to talk and ask questions about a particular picture or event in the book. Getting to the end of the book is not as important as enjoying the experience of reading a book together.

Asking questions about the story and waiting for a response

Listening to what your child says about the story and responding with encouragement or questions

Creating a storytime routine

Having your child retell his/her favorite story (even if s/he can't read all of the words!)

Speak & Read With Your Child

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” Dr. Suess

Watch this video from the Wisconsin State Reading Association about the importance of reading with your child. It's a 12 minute investment in the future of your child.

Speaking & Reading With Your Child

What do we know about best practice regarding

early speaking and reading experiences for children?

Both are such natural acts for many of us, but there are certain things you can do to maximize those interactions with your child. Your child is learning about words and what they mean from the moment he or she is born! Although it may not seem like traditional "school" learning, talking and reading with your child builds strong connections in the brain about how words work and what they mean. The key to building these strong connections lies in the QUALITY and QUANTITY of the talking and reading.

What do we mean by QUALITY?

Quality reading and speaking experiences between you and your child should...

be an enjoyable interaction

include your child's participation as much possible

cover lots of different types of reading material outside of quality children's books such as magazines, recipes, signs, directions, newspapers, blogs, etc.

highlight how books and words work

be filled with lots of talk i.e., questions, retellings, predictions, and checks for understanding about the reading

model speaking in complete sentences

contain more positive talk than negative or prohibitive talk Ex: You did really well trying to tie your shoes today! VS Let me tie your shoes so it's done right. OR Stop doing that!

connect children to more sophisticated language. Ex: another word for car is vehicle

These statistics are widely known as the "30 million word gap".

Quality reading and speaking with your child should be intentional and a daily routine.

Remember, this gap occurs BEFORE children start school.

Follow-up studies have shown disadvantaged children to be continually at risk for poor academic achievement.

Image Credit: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novemberdecember_2014

/features/unequal_at_the_start052708.php?page=all

In four years, an average child in a professional family would accumulate experience with almost 45 million words, an average child in a working class family 26 million words, and an average child in a welfare family 13 million words.

Source: Hart & Risley, The Early Catastrophe

*Figures based upon oral interactions