Read, read, read!
Reading to your child stimulates learning and language development. Read to your child every day, even if your child cannot talk yet. Your child loves hearing the sound of your voice and spending time with you.
The importance of reading to your child is immeasurable. It stimulates your child's language development, thinking skills, and imagination, and it's a great way for you to spend quality time with your child. The infancy period is the perfect time to introduce language. Your baby may not be able to understand words, but she enjoys hearing your voice, watching your face, and looking at pictures. All of these experiences help your child learn. The more you expose your child to communication skills early on, the easier it will be for your child to pick up language and reading.
Developmental milestones
Knowing where your child should be developmentally will help you encourage
your child's learning. It will also alert you if your child is lagging
behind significantly.
- Make sure your newborn has a hearing test. Hearing problems can delay language development significantly. Early detection leads to early treatment.
- By 3 months your child will be smiling at you and at other people. She loves the sound of your voice. Read her stories that have rhyme and rhythm, like nursery rhymes. Change the pitch of your voice and the tempo of the words and watch your child respond. Interact with and encourage the smiles and goos of your baby.
- By 4 months your baby will be babbling. Talking to your child and listening to your child's babbled response is a wonderful way to encourage communication.
- Between 6 and 9 months your baby will recognize familiar voices, will respond appropriately to friendly and angry tones, and will begin responding to her own name. This is a great time to use picture books with different shapes and textures that your child can touch and hold.
- By 12 months your child will begin to pay attention to speech, respond to "no," use exclamations, try to imitate words, and say "Mama" or "Dada." When you read to your child, encourage her to imitate the words you are saying.
- Between 12 and 18 months your child's vocabulary is growing at a rapid rate. Talking and reading to your child will encourage this process.
For more information, see Read to Your Child--You Cannot Start Too Early, Where to Find Good Books, Hearing, Learning, and Language Development, and Helpful Strategies for Better Sleep.
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Read, read, read!
The importance of reading to your child is immeasurable. Not only does it stimulate your child's language development, thinking skills, and imagination, but it's a great way for you to spend quality time with your child. Your child loves being with you, and curling up to read a book together lets you show your child affection while teaching words and communication skills. Spending quality time together helps your child feel attached and secure. Forming a healthy and secure relationship with you helps your child form positive relationships with others throughout life. You can read to your child anywhere-while you're waiting at the doctor's office, sitting on the bench at the bus stop, or at home curled up on the couch. Children who grow up reading are more likely to pick up words quickly, choose reading as an alternative to television, and respect books. Children who form secure relationships with their parents have an easier time learning and forming positive relationships with other people.
Developmental milestones
Knowing where your child should be developmentally
will help you encourage your child's learning. It will also alert you
if your child is lagging behind significantly.
- By 2 years of age, your child will know several hundred words and will be speaking in two- to three-word phrases. She will enjoy talking to herself and singing.
- As you read to your child, ask questions about the story, the characters, and what might happen next. See if your child can point out the shapes and pictures on the pages. Have your child repeat words and phrases.
- Your child's attention span is still fairly short, so making reading interactive will help keep your child interested.
- Reading to your child before bed is a great way to calm down before sleeping. Establishing reading as part of the routine will help make sure that no day goes by without it.
For more information, see Read to Your Child--You Cannot Start Too Early, Where to Find Good Books, Hearing, Learning, and Language Development, and Helpful Strategies for Better Sleep.
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Read, read, read!
Keep reading to your child every day. Setting aside a special time to read together helps your child practice her growing language skills, teaches the importance of reading, and strengthens the relationship you have with her. During reading time, focus all your attention on your child. Talk with her and ask questions. This will continue to help your child feel secure and attached to you. This security builds your child's self-confidence and self-esteem. Building a positive relationship with you also helps your child form positive relationships with other people.
Developmental Milestones
Knowing where your child should be developmentally will help you encourage your child's learning. It will also alert you if your child is lagging behind significantly.
- Your preschooler may pretend to read her favorite books. She may look at the pages and create her own story to go along with them, or she might recite the words she remembers as she turns the pages. Encourage this interest in reading. Not only will it help her think of herself as a real reader, but it will also help her reading improve as she gets older.
- Your child can recognize red, yellow, and blue, "big," "little," "tall," "short," and different shapes. She will also want to know what will happen next. Make reading interactive. Ask questions about the story, characters, and pictures on the page.
- By now your child should have a large vocabulary and use correct grammar often. Reading will encourage this.
For more information, see Read to Your Child--You Cannot Start Too Early, Where to Find Good Books, Hearing, Learning, and Language Development, and Helpful Strategies for Better Sleep.
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