Few family ideas are more delightful than plopping a toddler on your lap and reading a big picture book. And a new study reported in "Child Development" proves family home activities that involve reading to very young children are even more helpful than we all thought.
The study showed that when English speaking mothers in low-income homes read to their toddlers, those kids understood language better. They also knew and used more words and scored better on tests of toddler speech development — before they turned 2! — than toddlers who were not read to as much.
Similar benefits for children by age 3 were found among Hispanic families. The experts said that there was a snowball effect: the more and earlier kids were read to, the more words they used and the more reading they later did themselves.
Non-English speaking families especially should make sure there are lots of picture books in the house, but they shouldn't hesitate to speak to their children in their native language. Children need to hear language used properly and they benefit from exposure to a rich and varied vocabulary, whether it's in English or another language. In fact, other research indicates that children who learn more than one language become better problem solvers - a critical skill for reading and math.
Sheryl James is a former EduGuide editor from Brighton, Michigan.