Language and Literacy (Speech Services Niagara)
What everyone needs to know about early language and literacy development
Compiled by Linda Bell Speech-Language Pathologist at Speech Services Niagara
"A child does not learn to communicate by himself. He learns through involvement with his world... it's what we do and how we do it that affects our child's opportunities to learn." Ayala Manolson, The Hanen Centre®
Although most babies say their first words close to 14 months, they start learning about communication right from birth. The foundations of communication develop in that critical first year. Adapted from the Hanen Program®: Learning Language and Loving It™
Take the time to OWL...
- Observe to see what your child is interested in, who he chooses to play with, how he communicates.
- Wait to give your child a chance to say or do something before jumping in.
- Listen carefully, interpret as much as you can (gestures as well as words)
Be Face to Face
- It makes it easier for your child to pay attention to you.
- It makes it easier for him to see how you pronounce words.
- It makes it easier for you to notice his initiations and interpret his gestures, sounds, words or sentences.
- Adapted from the Hanen Program®: It Takes Two to Talk™
Follow the Child's Lead
- Don't introduce something new, see what he is interested in and join in.
- Respond to your child's initiations (sounds, actions, words, comments, questions) by confirming and expanding on them.
- Become involved in the game/activity as much as your child will allow.
- Questions should 'hook' so avoid the 'testing questions' such as "What colour is that?"
What is Emergent Literacy?
- Emergent literacy has been defined as the skills, knowledge and attitudes which are important for a child to learn to read and write.
- Children learn about literacy from birth through interactions with caregivers, where reading and writing is a natural part of each day.
- They don't have to learn to speak before you start working on literacy, but their understanding and use of spoken language will help them to 'crack the code.'
What are the most important skills?
- Researchers have identified that the best predictors for later reading success are:
- Oral language skills (talking) and language comprehension (understanding)
- Knowledge of the alphabet
- Print concepts (print-talk)
- Phonological Awareness Skills (sound play)
- Interest and enjoyment of books
- All preschoolers should be exposed to a range of activities but we don't expect them to have mastered them.
Don't Just Read the Book...Give it all you've got!
- Be dramatic and animated. Use different voices for different characters. (Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear.)
- Ask your child to help you find a range of print concepts, (eg. "Have I got the book the right way up?" "I wonder where I can find the name of the story," "Where do I start reading?" "Where is a loud word on this page?" "Show me what Spot is saying.")
- When possible, choose books and songs which use rhyme and pause to see if your child can fill in the rhymes.
- Use 'pattern books' with predictable phrases to help sentence structure (eg. Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle.)
- See if he/she can find or match their initial letter on a page, particularly if the print is large.
- 'Bounce' initial sounds to emphasize the sounds letters make. (eg. B-B-B-Ben.)
- Instead of asking 'testing' questions, ask questions that encourage your child to think, predict and use his/her imagination (eg. "I wonder what Franklin's thinking?")
- Play word games where your child claps out the number of syllables in a word (eg. he-li-cop-ter) or say a word which you have segmented into syllables and see if they can guess the word (you could use objects in a grab bag.)
- Discuss new and 'interesting' words with your child as they come up in stories, ie. give other words which mean the same thing to expand your child's vocabulary, (eg. in The Mitten, by Jan Brett: burrowed, admire, jostled, commotion, silhouetted.
