READ TO ME!

It is generally agreed among educators that one of the best things adults can do for their children is to read to them.

Parent Tips:

• During early infancy, reading helps babies build neural pathways that will eventually provide language development and acquisition.
• Reading aloud to children encourages association with happiness, love and enjoyment. All of this can lead to children’s greater interest in reading and can result in larger vocabularies and better literary skills.
• Choose a childcare environment that encourages storytime as an important aspect of the school’s routine.
• Reading aloud to children also helps them with pronunciation and phonetics. Some children are able to recognize letters and numbers before they can speak, but if they are left to this without guidance their weaknesses can lie in pronunciation and sounding out words.
• When children speak incorrectly they should be gently corrected so that they are encouraged to use proper grammar and pronunciation. Reading books can help children learn the proper format of sentences which they often mistake in late toddlerhood.
• Children who are read to regularly, are more likely to continue reading throughout their lives.
• Children who read are more likely to have better writing skills and be placed in higher level classes.

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