READING: AGES 0-3
Talk, Talk, Talk
So Your Child Can
Read, Read, Read
Today's Snack:
Cut up fruit in finger-food sizes and encourage your child to have them carry
on imaginary conversations with each other, before your child EATS them for
snack! "What did the strawberry slice say to the grape half?" "I don't know,
let's ask the apple chunk!" Try some chocolate milk to wash it all down.
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Supplies:
Here are some great
tips to share with your young child's caregivers
You don't have to be rich or have a bunch of college
degrees to prepare your baby to have the No. 1 factor for success in school and
life: a big vocabulary.
A big vocabulary doesn't just fall off the trees into a
child's brain. Mostly, children "pick up" vocabulary words from their
environment. That's especially true when they are very young, and dependent
entirely on the people and places in which they are growing up.
Placing
a young child in front of a television really doesn't help build that child's
vocabulary, because they are passive, not active, during TV watching. People's
lips aren't close enough to the camera for the child to lip-read, which is an
important listening skill - and in turn, listening is an important literacy
skill. So consider TV time as totally entertainment, and not doing your child
any good at all.
On
the other hand, every minute that you talk directly to your infant or toddler
is a plus toward future reading, writing and speaking competence. It seems
incredible, but it's really true. The sooner you start helping your child
stretch that brain, the sooner he or she will be able to build and use a
working vocabulary that is the bridge to reading.
All
of us have a much bigger "listening" vocabulary - words that we have heard -
than "reading" vocabulary - words that we can decode and understand in text.
Later, the school environment and the wider world will play a big role. But in
those early years of building a foundation for a big vocabulary . . . you're
it!
So make your baby's first environment highly enriched
with words. Talk, talk, talk to your child, and encourage his or her siblings,
caregivers, neighbors and everybody else to talk, talk, talk to the baby, too.
Ideas:
Get into the talking habit early. Every chance you get, talk to your
infant or young child. Don't worry about looking stupid - you won't. You'll
look smart, and you'll BE smart, because you'll be installing the building
blocks of thinking, speaking, reading and writing. At first, your
"conversations" will be one-sided, but it's amazing how quickly a baby will
hold up his or her end of the "conversation" with coo's and murmurs which are
the beginnings of speech. And speech is a big gateway toward reading and
independent learning power, which is your goal.
Minimize TV time in your home, or better yet, don't have a TV. The TV is the thing which
prevents a lot of family communication, so in that sense, it's a negative
influence in your home. It is also a passive element. A child looking at a TV
is not prompted to think or reply. The TV does not stimulate active
relationships or communication. Therefore, it's not a good brain-builder. Many
child-development experts say that if you can run your household without a TV
set until your children are in the later grades of elementary school, you will
be rewarded many times over with smarter, more relational kids who are better
learners.
Combine movement with speech, and stay close. Your baby will be engaged if you are right there and
communicating with your whole body. Hold him or her. Cuddle the baby in your
lap. If he or she can sit up, hold his or her hands and "dance." Look into his or
her eyes, and use your hands to tell him you are talking just to him.
Slow down your speech, and add tone and sound. Use a sing-song voice and let your baby hear each word
clearly. Adding sound effects and interesting or funny noises will bring a
smile to his or her face.
There's no such thing as a one-sided conversation. So much of speech is nonverbal.
Watch your baby for cues to responses and understanding, and even if your child
can't speak, or speaks only in one- or two-word replies, carry on the
conversation as if it is totally balanced between you and the baby, to
encourage longer and longer "conversations."
Listen and rephrase.
When your 2- or 3-year-old says a simple sentence, repeat it back or respond
more completely. This gradually stretches the child's communication skills. So
if he says "Mama give," answer, "Mama will give the ball to
(child's name)."
Use your child's likes as a springboard. Use the subjects that your baby is familiar with to
introduce more related words. For instance, if flowers delight your child, she
will enjoy hearing (and seeing, touching and smelling) about new kinds of
flowers, and what seasons they grow in, and how a seed grows up into a flower, as
well as learning the names for the different parts like roots, leaves, and
petals. Just look at all those new vocabulary words in that one subject!
Beyond books. We all
know of the importance of sitting in a rocking chair or couch, cuddling a young
child, and reading from a book. But to inspire conversations about books, go
beyond that traditional model:
§
Sit outside on the
swingset and read aloud a book to your child, and talk about it as your child
swings.
§
Read aloud the
newspaper comics with your child, look at the pictures together, and talk about
similar funny experiences in your family life.
§
Point to labels of
items in the grocery store and other kinds of stores, and read the words so
that your child can associate the words with the items they represent.
§
Read aloud an email
from a beloved friend or relative, show a picture of that friend or relative, and
ask your child questions associated with the message, so that your young child
will associate reading with feeling near loved ones. You'll be introducing new
vocabulary while also letting your young child hear a style of language
different from regular conversation.
