How Shared Book Reading Builds Language Development from Birth
Shared book reading can be implemented as early as birth. Shared book reading not only is a great bonding experience but also bolsters your child’s language development, which can later lead to stronger reading and writing skills.
Studies show that early literacy skills like rhyming, letter recognition, and phonemic awareness, or recognizing the sounds in spoken words, are more likely to be developed by children who are read to regularly.
5 Tips for Successful Shared Book Reading at Home
1. Choose Age-Appropriate Books
For babies and toddlers, books that are colorful, have different textures, and have interactive features can make book reading more fun and stimulating. For the little ones, board books or books that have stiff cardboard pages are best.
For older children, try incorporating their interests. Remember to try to integrate a variety of books, whether it be picture books, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, or poems.
2. Don’t Be Afraid to Get Creative
This may look like changing your voice for different characters, incorporating facial gestures, or physical actions like clapping.
Remember, there are no rules for book reading.
3. Follow the Child’s Lead
While reading the book from start to finish may seem the most obvious, for younger children, that may not be possible with their limited attention span.
Feel free to follow your child’s lead and don’t force it if they aren’t in the mood. Book reading should be fun and you want to establish positive feelings around it.
4. Make It a Routine
Find a time of the day that works best for you and your child. For children with limited attention, this may be when they are more tired like before bed or after bath time.
The most important thing is to be consistent. Even 15 minutes can make a difference.
5. Ask Questions During Shared Book Reading
To make shared book reading an engaging and active experience, you can incorporate asking your child questions. These questions can be adjusted for your child’s expressive language ability and comprehension level.
The word CROWD can help you remember the types of questions you can ask during shared book reading.
Completion Prompts
Ask your child about the language used in the story to see if they can fill in a repeated word or rhyme. For example, “he huffed and he puffed and he blew ____.”
Recall Prompts
Using questions that have your child retell what happened in the story can help them better follow the story and recall details. For example, “What happened when the pig’s house fell down?”
Open-Ended Prompts
Asking questions that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no or a single word answer can challenge your child to use longer utterances. This kind of question can look like, “What’s happening in this picture?”
WH Prompts
You can ask your child questions that start with question words like “What”, “When”, “Where”, and “Why”. In this way you can help your child learn how to appropriately answer a variety of questions while building their vocabulary.
Distancing Prompts
A distancing prompt question prompts your child to relate something in the book to their own life. For example, “Can you think of a time when you worked really hard on something, just like the third little pig? What did you do and how did it turn out?”
Why Shared Book Reading Matters
Shared book reading is a rewarding experience that can help your child develop and nurture a love of reading as they get older. The earlier you develop the routine of shared book reading the better.
Remember, you can always contact Kids Place Pediatric Therapy if you need further support.
Sources
Parents as Teachers, READ: Dialogic Reading: Sharing Books Through Conversation-The Early Years, 2004.
How to read with a wiggly baby (or toddler!). Reading Rockets. (n.d.) https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/reading-aloud/articles/how-read-wiggly-baby-or-toddler
Reading with your child. Reading Rockets. (n.d.). https://www.readingrockets.org/literacy-home/reading-your-child#:~:text=Studies%20have%20shown%20that%20children,the%20sounds%20in%20spoken%20words).
