Parents and Reading Readiness - Beyond the ABCs

I don't think most parents have a clue how important they are to their child's early reading success. Reading readiness begins from the moment your child is born - can you believe it? Children absorb and begin to learn language from birth, even when they are not yet communicating verbally. By the time children begin school, most of their neural pathways for letter sounds may already be set!

Many parents will be thinking, "But I'm not a teacher! Kids learn how to read when they get to school."  True, they will most likely learn how to read once they begin their formal education. However, reading readiness begins at home, and daycare, and preschool, long before they ever begin kindergarten.  During a child's emergent literacy stage - from birth through preschool years - children see and interact with print in everyday situations, begin to recognize words that rhyme, recognize logos and street signs, and can name some letters of the alphabet.

Early experiences with talking and listening prepare children to read and write, and build their vocabularies. If a child doesn't get enough of these early literacy experiences, he or she will very likely end up struggling learning how to read in school. Prepare your little ones by building phonological awareness, strengthening auditory skills, and improving short term memory with the activity ideas below.

What should you do to prepare your child before entering kindergarten?

• Talk a lot - Talk to your child and respond to questions as much as possible. It seems silly to have to say it, but many households and cultures don't encourage talking with young children, and this can severely limit their vocabularies. Also, weak verbal and auditory abilities make a child more likely to struggle learning how to read in school.
• Use new vocabulary  - Resist the urge to only use simple words you know your child knows - this limits their vocabulary! Use new words and explain them when you are out and about, in a new setting, or watching a show. For example, don't call all of the primates at the zoo monkeys, use the words gorilla, chimpanzee, and orangutan.
• Point out new things - Name objects, people, traffic signs, and logos around you in your environment. Rattle off names of different foods as you go through the grocery store. Play the "I Spy" game with your child.
• Build phonological awareness - Think of it as sound awareness. It's your child's ability to recognize that words are made up of separate speech sounds. Seems like a no-brainer to an adult, but this is something children don't know automatically - they have to learn it. Sing together, recite nursery rhymes, and play rhyming games. Make up silly sentences or tongue twisters using alliteration, e.g. Silly Sally sells seashells by the sea shore. If you play "I Spy," instead of saying the name of the object you want your child to find, say the first letter sound of the object's name ("I spy, with my little eye, something that starts with mmm" for McDonalds). Point to an object, like a table, and say the first sound together, /t/.
• Teach letter sounds correctly-  Yes, I have letter sounds here, NOT the names of the letters. Clearly hearing and identifying differences among spoken sounds is a key component to reading development. Emphasizing the sounds the letters make will better prepare your child for sounding out words with those letters later. Speak clearly when pronouncing and teaching letter sounds. Try not to add extra sounds to the letters though, as this is a common mistake that can really mess up your child's perception of the letters. Say /b/ not /buh/, and /mmm/ not /muh/. Also, keep in mind that many children have trouble hearing the difference between short vowel sounds - (apple, elephant, igloo, octopus, umbrella), so practice those a lot. Watch letter videos on the computer and play games that have a sound component to them.
• Read to your child - Early exposure to books can help your child's early literacy development. Read and reread favorite picture and story books. Visit the library or local bookstore. Establish a daily reading time (ours was before bed). Read with expression and use different voices for characters. Point to words and pictures as you read. Mix it up by reading some non-fiction selections too, maybe information on a favorite animal or sport. Remember, more books equals a larger vocabulary.
• Improve short term memory - Playing memory games can help strengthen memory skills, another important component of the reading process. Play Memory matching games, Simon Says, what is missing games, and sing songs like "Bingo" or "Farmer in the Dell."

When children can't read there is usually a good reason for it: they are unable to rhyme, don't hear the differences in letter sounds, can't blend sounds together, or have a slow recall of letter sounds. These auditory and memory deficits can often be avoided with a strong literacy foundation in the first five years of life. However, children with speech and language disorders, physical or mental conditions, or other developmental disorders may experience problems learning to read and write no matter how many language opportunities they are given before they begin school.

Start your child's reading journey off right - pick up a book and get started today! Or go online and check out the numerous resources available on the Internet. It's not too late to help them develop the skills they need to be a successful reader.

Social Media May Be Too Much of a Good Thing

Wow, have I been getting an education in social media lately!  There is so much out there I didn't even know about a year ago (okay, 2 months ago). I had a Facebook account, knew about Twitter, watched some YouTube videos, and had heard about writing blogs, but had no idea those are just the tip of the iceberg - there are hundreds of social media sites connecting people today. When do people have time for all of this?

For many, as it is for me, spending time online catching up with what's happening with others can be relaxing and fun. I enjoy seeing pictures of family, friends, and their children. Watching a funny video or reading a heart-warming story is enjoyable and relaxing. I get to see what my college-age daughter is up to. I even get to dabble in a little online gaming with friends and family members.

There are also A LOT of great articles, blogs, and web sites I run across while surfing the Internet. Some of these pieces that relate to education end up on my company social media pages. That's my medium for sharing. A lot of people are out there sharing. They have some really good things to say. But the more friends and pages we follow, the more there is to read each time we go online. How do you make time for it all and still have a life? And how many of these posts are we merely glancing at or not reading at all because we just don't have time?

A friend of mine is writing this really great educational blog. She's written over a dozen posts now and I've read every single one of them. She's an incredible writer, so her blogs are enjoyable to read. Have I left a comment on even one of them? Isn't that the purpose of a blog, to interact and spark discussions? The comments I read after articles and blog posts are mostly very detailed responses, thoughtful and very well written. I don't just want to write, "I agree with you 100%," or "Yes! This is great!" How many of us have time (or will take the time, because we can make time for something that's really important to us) to sit and write some witty or philosophical response? I want to engage readers with my own posts , but I also recognize that, like myself, people are busy and have lives beyond the computer.

So how do I know anyone is reading anything I post for my company pages? I don't, for now, but the information is out there in the Internet cloud and will be accessible to someone when they are ready for it. I will continue to share great web sites and articles that I think will help parents or teachers or children. My friends and fans will still be informed that this month is Black History Month and Library Lovers Month. Or encouraged to consider reading the Little House on the Prairie book series in celebration of Laura Ingalls Wilder Day. And I will continue to share Sneak Peaks, videos, and information about our company and Red Apple Reading software as we get closer to our expected launch date.  If you took the time out of your busy life to read this entire post, thank you.  :)