The Science of Reading – Why we Should Read to our Children
Build Vocabularies: Words are for Thinking!
When you have an idea, do you have enough words to express it?
If you need a new word, where do you find it?
If you answered that you “just know it from memory,” then how did it get into your brain’s word memory bank?
The truth is, words need to be taught. During the earliest years of life, children are listening and learning, even before they are born. They are being taught by environmental sources of language – people, news channels, game videos – or from wherever words are being spoken. The more words children hear, the more words they will ultimately use when reading, speaking and writing. The type of words children learn will affect the audiences they will be able to address without criticism.
Children who sit quietly and listen during adult conversations will benefit by gaining specialized vocabularies related to the particular interests of those adults. Children who sit alone, listening to electronic devices, will be impacted in either positive or negative ways depending on what they are listening to.
This information, alone, should cause us to care about what words our children are exposed to. What are they hearing? What are they learning? What will they be saying?
Neuroscience Guides Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage
According to the French neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene, reading bedtime stories to children, beginning from toddlerhood and continued through their growing-up years, strengthens their brain circuits for language and helps them learn to understand texts and formulate complex thoughts.
(Dehaene has spent several years studying the results of fMRI scans and has reported back to the world at large about how the brain reads. His discoveries have changed how we think about the child’s acquisition of language and how it impacts the ability to read. Dehaene also recommends reading to the child in the womb. According to Dehaene babies are born with a preference for listening to their native language which he says implies that language learning starts in the womb.)
Cultural Activities and Traditions
Fingerplay, Nursery Rhymes and Children’s songs are often passed down through families from grandparents, aunts and uncles, and other loved ones.
Some children’s songs have dances that go with them. When movement is added to the human interaction, the benefit of multisensory activities on the brain is added to the mix.
Research from the University of Melborne
A group of scientists (University of Melborne: Department of Education and Early Childhood Development) have recently reported what they learned when examining the impact of a person’s early exposure to words. I recommend reading this report, but for now here are two key facts from their findings, published online at: Reading to Young Children: A Head-Start in Life
A Direct Effect on School Outcomes:
“The frequency of reading to children at a young age has a direct causal effect on their schooling outcomes regardless of their family background and home environment.”
Higher Achievement Scores:
“Children read to more frequently at age 4-5 achieve higher scores on the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests for both Reading and Numeracy in Year 3 (age 8 to 9)
Child listening to her mom read
Impacting Young Minds is in Our Hands
The science references in this short blog should be enough to convince us of how great an influence we have when we interact with children. Even if we don’t have children of our own we can wield that influence by volunteering in our communities. New readers are always in need of someone they can read to. We can be those someones. Volunteer!
