Childhood -

From the Inside Out:

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

The Phenomenon of Assimilation

Building a Network of Prior Knowledge

Secret Brilliance

encouraging gifts and talents

transferring values to young children

embroidered truth

physiological memory

to our friends in the medical community

early childhood literacy education - a pattern of awareness

How young children learn - a practical application

Reading with your child

The Emergent Reader

Mind Mapping and visual thought

Developing distance-devotion

smart room

smart child

i can read

a rhyme in time

Multi-Tasking

Part of a modern day dichotomy

"I just came across your website ... I LOVED IT! ... Just wanted to say thank you."

Reading With Your Child

“New insights into brain development affirm what many parents and caregivers have known for years … warm and loving attachments between young children and adults, and positive stimulation from the time of birth, really do make a difference in children’s development for a lifetime.”

The Snuggle Factor: Current brain research confirms that learning is strongly influenced by emotion. In fact, some researchers believe that literacy is directly influenced by emotional capacity and/or the strong relationships the child establishes in the first year of life.  Therefore, when a young child experiences comfort, safety, and peace while being read to, chemicals in the brain lay the groundwork for literacy by sending the message that this is a pleasurable experience. 

The Fear Factor: The opposite is also true. Just as a pleasurable experience enhances attention, learning, meaning, and memory, a negative event also causes connections to be made.  When a stressful experience releases chemicals in the brain, sending the message that this, too, must be remembered, the pathway to fear is widened. Therefore, when reading to groups of children, patience is more than a virtue.  It is a vital tool through which pleasurable connections can be made.

A Pattern of Awareness:  Reading with your child can also bring your child to a place of awareness called reading readiness.  As we discussed in the article How Young Children Learn on our home page, oral language is the foundation upon which reading skills are based.   When your child begins to make the transition from oral to written language, you may want to encourage the process by helping him develop the following patterns of awareness:

Practical Pre-Reading Skills:

• print awareness (combinations of letters in specific order)

• spatial awareness (words are separated by space, paragraph placement ...)

• left-to-right / top-to-bottom progression (flow of text)

• auditory discrimination (hearing letter sounds)

• visual discrimination (differing shapes of letters or graphemes)

• book covers (front and back), name of author / illustrator

• interpreting picture clues or cues (anticipating story line through pictures)

• following the development of a story (sequence of events)

• prediction (what will happen next)

Here's a guarantee:

When reading with your child, if you like the book, so will your child. 

So, be sure to choose books that YOU enjoy!

Emotions drive our attention, learning, meaning, and memory.

Productive emotions are enhanced during times of celebration, storytelling, curiosity, mystery, big projects, drama, physical activity, music, art ...

Playing and listening to music strengthens the synapses between nerve cells.

The brain changes physiologically as a result of experience. The environment in which a brain operates determines to a large degree the functioning ability of that brain.

"New brain research shows not only that music is fun, but also that it improves our brain development and even enhances skills in other subjects such as reading and math."

- Norman Weinberger, Educational Leadership, November 1998