Parents, when confronted with a problem relating to their child, often hark back to the golden era of their childhood when things were “different “. In this context, the word “different” is definitely used to imply that things were “better”. Firstly, it is highly debatable if any change can be entirely negative. Secondly, it is futile to bemoan changes which are clearly irreversible. And the changes we see around us definitely are. New days require new ways and adaption remains the key to good parenthood.

The area of child development where rapid changes have been most obvious is language fluency ie. Speaking, reading and writing. Since there is no real benchmark available to an average parent to gauge if a child’s speech development is progressing as it should, it is at the reading stage that any deficit in the child’s language skills becomes obvious. While some of these children may have real learning problems, far too many have just not had the necessary preparation required to become skilled readers.

It is the informal inputs that the child receives from birth to preschool years, which prepares her for formal training in speaking, reading and writing during her schooling years. This period which begins at birth and continues through preschool years is known as emergent literacy. Children at this stage are active learners (as opposed to being taught by an adult) and through observation, interaction and exploration of their environment become ready to step into formal literacy ie. to read and write.

Since infancy is the stage which lays the foundation for proficient reading, many studies have been conducted to pinpoint the inputs that a child requires during these critical years. Consensus has more or less evolved on the ideal environment for emergent literacy:

• listening and talking to the child,
• reading aloud,
• Ensuring adequate availability of books and writing material,
• Role Models. The child must have the opportunity to observe adults who value books, read for enjoyment and who appreciate the baby-steps the child takes towards literacy.

Very many parents wonder why they need to intervene so strongly to make their child a reader. As far as they can recollect no such efforts were made during their own childhood and reading came upon them naturally, almost casually. A relook at the ideal environment would provide the answers to these questions.

SOCIAL INTERACTIONS

English: PEARL CITY, Hawaii (March 3, 2010) Bo...
Image via Wikipedia

With nuclear families becoming the norm, social visits becoming more rare and children’s movement outside home being monitored more strictly because of safety issues, today’s children have far fewer social interactions than the previous generation. In addition, advent of TV and computers has limited the playtime of children, decreasing time spent with peers and further shrinking the scope of practicing their nascent listening and speaking abilities. Thus, critical social inputs (required for verbal skills) which occurred naturally in the previous generation have now scaled down considerably. So, an increasing number of children enter formal education with weak verbal abilities and a greater likelihood of facing difficulty in learning to read and write.

READING ALOUD

Reading aloud to a child develops enjoyment of the written word and prepares the child for success in attaining literary skills. A child who has been regularly read aloud to during infancy looks upon books and reading as a source of fun and joy. The child also begins to comprehend certain important concepts of pre-reading stage: that each printed word is a symbol with certain meaning and that the printed word can be translated into the stories that she has been listening to. An understanding of these concepts and a positive attitude towards books are both required if the child is to turn into a passionate reader. With shrinking families and busier parents (and the eternal culprit- TV), story-telling and reading aloud are no longer primary activities used to keep a young child occupied.

AVAILABILITY OF BOOKS

Due to lack of other options in the previous generation, books remained the main source of indoor entertainment during hot, summer afternoons and long, rainy days. Now, with plenty of choices in the gadget and gift sections, books no longer have a central place in many homes and consequently, ready availability of books has decreased in many homes. Many parents who are aware of the educational value of books try to bridge the deficit with use of educational TV programmes and CDs for infants. At best, these electronic substitutes have no real impact on the child’s language development and at worse can cause long-lasting damage to a child’s development. In fact, American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended no TV viewing for babies less than 2 and France has banned TV programmes (including educational programmes) aimed at children less than 3 years.

ROLE MODEL

It has been said that “A good role model is the best sermon”. The previous generation learnt to value the written word by watching their parents spend long hours poring over newspapers, writing letters and reading books. Watching others engage in functional reading and writing fostered in the children a reverence for the given skills, making them ready and eager to learn the same. And thus, naturally and casually, the children slipped into the habit of reading.

The children of today have watched their parents spend long hours hunched before the TV and computers. Parents are increasingly turning to TV and computers (and now mobile phones) for news, information and entertainment and it is but natural for a child to do the same. A child is influenced less by lectures given by parents about importance of reading and more by the actions which demonstrate the same.

So, if the parents want their children to become fluent readers as easily as they did, they must ensure that their children have access to the same environment that they did. This includes restricting TV time for the entire family, spending adequate time together as a family where the child participates actively in family conversation, reading aloud and story-telling, ready availability of reading and writing material for the child.

But do it all softly, gently, patiently and your child will not just learn to read but will learn to love reading. And you will have not just a fluent but also a passionate reader.

REFERENCE :

www.braille.org

www.nichd.nih.go