READING TO YOUR CHILD FROM INFANTS

When babies are born they have no language skills. First they have to build their listening vocabularies then they build their speaking vocabularies. How do we as parents help children build the listening and speaking vocabularies.

Jim Trelease states in his "The Read-Aloud Hand Book" Since it will be years before an infant used his or her eyes for actual reading, the best source for vocaulary and brain building becomes the ear. What we send into that ear becomes the foundation for the child's "brain house".......

We read to children for all the same reasons we talk with children to reassure , to entertain, to bond, to inform or explain, to arouse curiosity, and to inspire. But in reading aloud , we also:

.build vocabulary

.condition the child's brain to associate reading with pleasure

.create background knowledge

.provide a reading role model

.plant the desire to read (Read more on pages 5 & 6 - The Read-Aloud Handbook)

Children develop from conversation the use and understanding of about ten thousand common words.

According to Jim Trelease .....these ten thousand words are called the Common Lexicon. Beyond that ten thousand mark are the "rare words" and these play a critical role in reading as we grow older. The preceding chart shows that printed text contains the most rare words. (Read more on page 18 - The Read-Aloud HandBook)