Most often we begin focusing on reading and the measurement of literacy skills during the early elementary years. The most influential years for literacy skill building are often overlooked. Stimulating an interest and enjoyment in reading during the early childhood years is crucial.
Songs and word plays popular among children birth-2 years offer a great deal to literacy skill building. Simply talking to an infant and toddler, naming objects in the world around them and describing moments and events as they play out provide the building blocks for reading. Sharing this information with parents and helping them to understand that their role in inspiring reading is even more important.
During the early childhood years infants and toddlers are engaged not only by the words but the interaction with the book – how it feels, turning pages, sometimes for infants even how it tastes (smile). The experience of reading with a young child has proven to have a lasting impact, no matter how distracted babies and toddler may be when we are reading with them. Helping parents and caregivers understand that this distraction is not a sign of failure with the experience and that worthwhile learning and bonding is taking place is as important to making literacy gains as it is to influence young readers.
Educators truly need the support of the child’s home to ensure gains in literacy and a huge part of that is parents/caregivers ability to instill the love of reading during the early childhood years. Family literacy programs work to engage families in the experience of reading. Most programs also work to provide tools for caregivers to allow them to help their children as well as increase caregiver’s understanding of their influence. So often, adults with low literacy levels believe they are unable to help their own children.
In addition to providing resources for adult literacy, family literacy programs promote an understanding of the numerous activities that engage young minds and increase literacy skills such as singing and rhyming.
A powerful statistic from The Literacy Crisis: False Claims, Real Solutions helps us understand that all caregivers and families have the ability to be positive motivators of literacy provided the support and confidence:
The only behavior measure that correlates significantly with reading scores is the number of books in the home. An analysis of a national data set of nearly 100,000 United States school children found that access to printed materials--and not poverty--is the critical variable affecting reading acquisition.
- Jeff McQuillan, The Literacy Crisis: False Claims, Real Solutions, 1998.
