The Vital Importance of Reading To and With Your Child Now, and in Years to Come
The scientific reasons why you need to read to your toddler: There is a strong correlation between the learning of nursery rhymes as a pre-schooler and later reading proficiency. When young children are learning (and repeating and repeating!) nursery rhymes and songs, a vital learning process is taking place. Studies show that very young children are especially “wired” to attend to the single units of sounds (phonemes) within words. So when they listen to, and memorize rhymes and songs, they are actually processing (studying!) the minute parts of language at a very deep level. Those phonemes are the building blocks of the letter/sound relationship which will ultimately allow them to recognize a group of letters as a symbol for specific meaning. This is the same reason very young children are able to “pick up” second languages orally with such ease. Alas, this incredible ability lasts for only a short time!
Reading does not “come naturally”. Reading and writing are acquired skills for which the human brain is not yet fully evolved (Liberman, Shankweiler, and Liberman, 1989). Human brains are naturally wired for learning to speak. Any child, unless neurologically impaired or hearing impaired, will learn to talk. This is not true of reading, and most children are dependent on systematic, direct teaching to become literate. With such teaching, children typically learn to read at about age 5 or 6 and need several years to master the skill. (Moats and Tolman, 2008).
Studies show that more vocabulary growth comes through reading and being read to than any other method! Encountering new words in context brings about the strongest and most lasting vocabulary learning. “Book” language is significantly different (richer in vocabulary) from conversational language. Children who are read to gain knowledge of both types of language and transition between them with ease. Children entering school without rich literary experiences feel a type of “culture shock” when expected to:
attend to a story that requires their attention longer than they are accustomed to listening,
consider and discuss the behaviors and motivations of characters in the story
predict and explain possible outcomes of stories.
Literature offers readers and listeners opportunities to experience challenges and hardships vicariously, fostering strength of character, compassion and leadership skills.
Background knowledge of historical events and influential people and ideas are developed from literary encounters, enhancing learning and understanding when those same concepts are introduced in classroom settings.