Many parents now know of the particular importance of reading aloud in the first 12 months of life; and also how crucial it is in the first four months when the learning pathways are laid down in the brain. They are aware that during a read-aloud session children’s brains develop at a great rate, thanks to the thrilling combined stimulation of words and pictures, touch and smell.

Of equal weight to brain development is another highly positive fact: reading to our offspring creates unique opportunities for a child and an adult to find out who the other person is. Sharing a book with a child is an enchanted time, a time away from the workaday world, a time when parents and children fall in love with each other. The brain and the attachment develop simultaneously: it’s the solid beginning of psychological health and educational success. But who cares about all that stuff? …

All these woes take root in the first five years of children’s lives. In a long-term experiment in England children were ranked on their first day of school from best to worst on the basis of their awareness of books and stories, and their skills as readers and writers. They were then monitored regularly until they finished school. The result was as depressing for teachers as it was alarming for parents. Throughout their schooling, most of the children remained in whatever “literacy position” they’d been placed in on their first day. What happens before school is therefore crucial, since it sets the stage for the rest of a child’s life. The literacy ranking was able to be changed only for those children fortunate enough to have had a truly outstanding teacher in their first year at school.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald
http://tinyurl.com/36ye76