Early Literacy Development: Part I

We all know that reading will help build your child's vocabulary, stimulate his imagination, and improve their communication skills. But did you know that the more you speak to your child from the get-go, the better it is for his growth and development? Studies have shown that language skills — and even intelligence — are related to how many words a child hears each day. And we're not talking about five year olds... this starts from infancy! Basically, babies whose parents spoke to them a lot (an average of 2,100 words an hour) have been show in some studies to score higher on standard tests when they reached age 3 than did children whose parents hadn't been as verbal. There are also studies pointing to a direct correlation between the number of words (and variety of words) spoken in the home and a child's vocabulary development, their academic performance K-12 and ultimately even graduation rates and beyond. Now you know why I've always got some running commentary going with the kids... about them, about me, about the state of the world, or whatever else I can think of! And I use big words with them as much as I use baby talk. I could care less if people think I'm odd for carrying on adult conversation with my five month olds... I'm growing people here!