Touch Me, Baby!

A recent study demonstrated a correlation of touch between a caregiver and infant and their ability to learn new vocabulary. According to 'Touch Influences How Infants Learn Language',  in the July edition of the ASHA Leader, infants whose knees were touched, in occurrence with a spoken word, were able to respond to that word after 24 repetitions. Versus infants who were not touched, whom did not demonstrate any response to the word. As a mom, it's almost natural to always be touching your baby, tickling, them, playing with them while we talk to them. Encourage others whom you trust to interact with your baby the same way!

Reading Over the Summer!

Many parents know that it is good to read to their children, but many parents admit to not doing so on a daily basis, according to a new collaboration between several groups, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). It has been reported, less than 50% of parents are reading to their child every day.

Reading to a child is one of the most important things you can do for their overall development...

Books are important starting in infancy, as early as six months! Children’s early literacy development is critical along with the frequency of reading. Reading allows a child to understand more words and in return, say more words, creating vocabulary development spurts. The more a child talks, the larger his/her vocabulary is, therefore, the easier and more readily they become readers.

Additionally, reading allows a parent/caregiver to play and build relationships with his/her child. Reading creates and allows for quality time and provides comfort and contact. There is no wrong way to read. Sometimes "reading" is simply describing the pictures in a book without following the written words.

During infancy and toddlerhood, choose books with different textures (e.g. felt, board, plastic, etc.) and topics. Books should have only a few words on each page and colors should be distinct. At six months a child should begin attending to pictures. Around 12 months a child should be maintaining attention to pictures. By 15 months a child should begin identifying nouns and actions in pictures.

Reading and writing does not come naturally, therefore we need to read every day. Reading teaches language and the single best predictor of how well a child is going to do in school is how much they know before they get there.  Make it reinforcing. Call around to a few restaurants to see if they have a rewards program. Make it fun. Choose materials that the child loves. MAKE READING A ROUTINE!

Resources:

http://www.best-books-for-kids.com/benefits-of-reading.html

Neuman, Susan. Research Shows Preventing Illiteracy Starts During Infancy.

Literacy Statistics:

§  80% of preschool and after-school programs serving low-income populations have no age-appropriate books for their children. (Neuman, Susan B., et al. Access for All: Closing the Book Gap for Children in Early Education. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2001, p. 3. )

§  Creating a steady stream of new, age-appropriate books has been shown to nearly triple interest in reading within months. Harris, Louis. An Assessment of the Impact of First Book’s Northeast Program. January 2003

§  An American kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. The Forum for Youth Investment with the Ready by 21™ Partners. Getting the Most Out of Your Dropout Prevention Summit: Planning Guide. May 2008. Forum for Youth Investment and America’s Promise Alliance.

§  37 percent of children arrive at kindergarten without the skills necessary for lifetime learning. Landry, S. H. (2005). Effective Early Childhood Programs: Turning Knowledge Into Action. Houston, TX: University of Texas, Health Science Center at Houston.

§  Half of youths with a history of substance abuse have reading problems. National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities. (1998). Children with reading disability. Washington, D.C.: Robert Bock.Half of these children from low-income communities start first grade up to two years behind their peers. Brizius, J. A., & Foster S. A. (1993). Generation to Generation: Realizing the Promise of Family Literacy. High/Scope Press.

§  Children from low-income families are at greater risk for entering school unprepared. 

§  According to a national longitudinal analysis by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), economically disadvantaged children may know only one or two letters of the alphabet when entering kindergarten, while children in the middle class will know all 26. Lee, V. E. & Burkam, D. T. (2002). Inequality at the starting gate: Social background differences in achievement as children begin school. Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute.

§  Across the nation just under half of children between birth and five years (47.8%) are read to every day by their parents or other family members. Russ S, Perez V, Garro
N, Klass P, Kuo AA, Gershun M, Halfon N, Zuckerman B. Reading Across the Nation: A Chartbook (2007): Reach Out and Read National Center, Boston, MA.

§  By the age of 2, children who are read to regularly display greater language comprehension, larger vocabularies, and higher cognitive skills than their peers. Raikes, H., Pan, B.A., Luze, G.J., Tamis-LeMonda, C.S.,Brooks-Gunn, J., Constantine,
J., Tarullo, L.B., Raikes, H.A., Rodriguez, E. (2006). “Mother-child bookreading in low-income families: Correlates and outcomes during the first three years of life.” Child Development, 77(4).

§  The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study found that in the spring of 2000, the children who were read to at least three times a week by a family member were almost twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading compared to children who were read to less than 3 times a week. Denton, Kristen and Gerry West, Children’s Reading and Mathematics Achievement in Kindergarten and First Grade (PDF file), U.S. Department of Education, NCES, Washington,
DC, 2002.