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What is Early Reading?

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Posted by Your Guide on March 14, 2006 4:12 PM

There is an immense difference in reading early and encouraging pre-reading skills. In every stage of life, from the moment your child is born, they are reading. Yes, it is true. Infants learn very early to “read” your expressions and the tone of your voice. If you sound angry and frustrated, your baby will pick up on your emotional cues and also become agitated. When your baby sees you smile, they often smile back. This begins as a mimicking behavior, but over time, the baby feels a warm and loving sensation from your smile, and emotionally, they smile in return.

Early reading skills are developed in much the same way. When your child sees you enjoy reading and when you share that enjoyment with your child, over time, he/she will begin to respond to reading in a positive way. Even the most active child can be introduced to reading early in life when parents choose books that include lots of action words and active story lines. Participating in the story by acting out the main idea can bring even the squirmiest child into the world of reading.

Then as your child develops, one reading skill builds upon another until one day, at around age 6 or 7, your child will be able to read letters and words. However, there are many steps in between those first reading together experiences and the independent reading that occurs in Grades 1 and 2. How many children can point to the “Golden Arches” and shout, “Happy Meal!” or “McDonald’s!”? These children have made the association between those two arches and the food at McDonald’s Restaurants. That is reading. As you ride in the car, ask your child to tell you what they see. If they can point out a church because of the architecture or it’s steeple, then that is a form of reading. If your child begs for their favorite video based on the cover art, they are reading. They may not be reading the words spelled out on the cover, but they recognize the drawings and colors of the box and want to see that particular movie.

So early reading encompasses a wide variety of skills, all the way to the recognition of individual letters, or perhaps the child’s own name when it is printed. However, learning to read is a path that never ends. All along that path, one skill builds upon the last, making small and large steps possible until one day, the reading of words and letters begins to make sense.

The job of parents in the toddler, preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten years is to encourage each of the early reading, or pre-reading skills as they develop, and by modeling good reading behavior each day.



Next Page: When Should Your Child Begin to Read?

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