Really! Listening, Language and Reading!

I love reading!  I've said that before and if you know me, I love any kind of reading, whether I'm reading on my own or sharing with my clients. 
When I am with a parent and we are working with their child, I always bring up reading, and I am always surprised that there are questions about why reading is so important to the listening and language component.   There are lots of web sites a parent can go to for development of reading - usually they start with emerging literacy.  Yes, that's true; but if you continue to look for reading within those web sites you will find some to include infants.  There is so much more to consider.

When they are babies, you hold them, you coo with them, you sing to them, you comfort them.  Why can't you read to them as well.  The focus for baby and adult is listening. Surprise! Your voice is for baby to hear, and as baby focuses, they will learn to track your face to the book.  Can you imagine baby listening to your voice and listening to rhythm and change of pitch when you go from character to character and setting to setting.  Just read to them!

Next are the toddlers and they are such a delight!  Reading and listening to language while cuddled up with you gives the toddler a little bit extra.  Now that they have begun to listen, they are learning those communication skills of give and take, they are discriminating sounds, and they are identifying those sounds and items you are talking about within the reading.  You have given your toddler the ability to experience more in their world and outside their world.  Begin to choose books that present familiar ideas and simple actions. They will love rhythm and rhyme, your humor put into the story while they are listening and they will love the repetition within the story.  These can be nursery rhymes, lullabies, and simple tales.  The one item you have to remember - attention span is short, so
choose stories that are simple with lots of colorful pictures.

As your child turns into a preschooler, picture books are a staple for them.  If your teaching has gone according to plan, the three-to-five year old has begun to use longer utterances.  They are asking you -
'What happened?' or 'What doing?' and they are beginning to enjoy longer conversations with you.  Even more, they want to listen to your stories!  Now they enjoy reading together everyday and it will become one of the most important activities of your day or evening before bed.  It will help their language to grow as they begin to hear different words and different ways to say things.  It will also set them up for pre-reading.

It is said, the best way to help children become readers is to read aloud to them as often
as possible. The more stories children hear, the more aware they are of how
language sounds, and the more new words they can learn.  According to the
American Academy of Pediatrics, listening to stories read aloud stimulates brain
development and lays down patterns that can become the building blocks for written language.....and there you go, the hierarchy of listening.....or is it language......or is it reading.....or is it all of them! Well,
whatdya' know! 
Let's talk next time, about how we can work with our school-age children with reading, or is it language - hehehe!

Reading-the more you read......

 

'Oh! The Places You'll Go!' is a Dr. Seuss book that I, and many of my friends, have given to children over and over again.  My mother even gave this to my son when he left home for a life ready for the making.  But leaving home, or even getting ready to embark on something new is not the focus of this blog.....

.....After my first summer camp was over and I felt so happy that I saw my dream come true with the help of family and many friends; I was ready to write and create for the blog.  I was ready to tell everyone what we had accomplished at camp, give ideas to parents about listening and language, provide some lessons for speech and reading, and overall just write.  So? What happened?  

I couldn't get one idea going for the blog.  My mind wasn't focused.  It was summer and I wanted to do anything but write.  I was ready to go do my therapy lessons with children and parents before I wanted to sit down and write.  I was ready to put lessons on paper for school before I wanted to sit down and write.  I even wanted to straighten up the house before I wanted to sit down and write. Yikes!!  

I promised myself I would read that stack of books and magazines from the past couple of months as well, and that is just what I did.  I read.  I read and read and then I read some more.  I can't tell you how good it felt to read and enjoy fun reading time.  I got ideas and lessons from others, reading their articles.  I spent a great deal of time just enjoying myself through books.  

And then it hit me, what is the one thing I tell my new clients.  Parents and children, tweens and teenagers, adults and other therapists.  READ!  

Everyone knows how important it is for a child to get started in the reading process.  Listening and enjoying, learning that print means something, and learning that letters are connected to sounds and combinations of sounds make words and so on and so forth.  Now how important is it to those who have difficulty with listening and speech and language?  Double that reading effort, no triple it.

We should read at every opportunity we have - read with someone, read with family, read for learning, read for entertainment, read for the love of it!  Today, in this growing age of more technology, more ipads, more tablets, more Nooks and Kindles - more printing, more digital printing, more accessibility, there is no reason not to teach the love of reading.  Yes we get busy, I just shared that I was playing catch-up on my reading list, but sharing a moment of reading can be done!  

I am a firm believer in technology, but not for the sake of sitting and entertaining oneself with games while mom and dad are busy.  There is a time and place for that.  I am so in favor of technology to share, find the time to be together.  E-books - I love them - once I've shared with the children, they can do it by themselves.  Once I've shared with an adult, they can access whenever they want on what technology they have.  And if perchance, I have a client that loves the feel of books like I do - well, that one is easy.  

The whole point of this particular blog - Read! I love to read.  Make the love of reading a part of your list of 'to-do's' with your family.  You can do so much from reading a book.  Ideas and activities can stem from reading.  Correct speech and language can stem from reading. My favorite part of all ..... Conversations, discussions and yes - going places can stem from reading.  

Share the love of reading before the school year takes over in all it's other forms.  Somewhere in your day - take 10 minutes to read, on your own or with family or friend, but share reading with all its intentions of enjoyment in every emotion you can think of and then.....

Talk about it!