BREAKING NEWS:Early Literacy Is Vital To

Your Child’s Development

A Presentation by Lyle Silverman

What is Early Literacy?

Children prepare to read long before they enter school - early literacy is everything children know about reading and writing before they can actually read and write.

Early literacy is a baby who chews on a book, a toddler who wants his favorite book read over and over, and a preschooler who "reads" the story to you from memory.

Your child's early experiences with books and language lay the foundation for success in learning to read.

What Makes Early Literacy So Important?

Babies begin learning the moment they're born. Rapid learning takes place during the early months after birth, more than any other time in a person's life.

All reputable modern research says that a child’s brain develops most in their first 3 years of life.

By the time a child is three, their brain is “middle-aged,” with much of the basic circuitry of the brain already built, the brain has grown to about 80% of its adult size.

Don’t Be Mistaken. You Don’t Have To Physically Teach Your Child To Read.

Formal instruction which pushes infants and toddlers to achieve adult models of literacy (i.e., the actual reading and writing of words) is not developmentally appropriate.

Early literacy theory emphasizes the more natural unfolding of skills

Formal instruction to require young children who are not developmentally ready to read is counter productive and potentially damaging to children, who may begin to associate reading and books with failure.

Early Literacy Facts37 percent of children arrive at kindergarten without the

skills necessary for lifetime learning..

The incidence of unpreparedness is even higher within low-income families, ethnic minority groups, and English-language learners.

Studies show that children from middle-income families begin kindergarten with a vocabulary of between 20,000-30,000 words; children from lower-income families start school with about 5,000 words.

Low literacy in children is associated with school failure, teenage pregnancy juvenile delinquency and poverty.

Early Literacy Facts Continued…

Research proves that children who enter kindergarten behind their peers will most likely never catch up and are three to four times more likely to drop out in later years.

Only 18% of Americans actually are aware of the fact that children who lack early literacy skills are less likely to succeed as adults.

What You Can DoRead to your child every night

Point out signs and letters to children

Communicate verbally and non-verbally with your child regularly

When you are writing down notes or anything, show your child that you are writing.

Please take the quick resource sheets provided that give you more recommendations for things to do to improve your child’s early literacy skills.

Thanks for coming.

I’ll be glad to answer any questions you may have

at this time.

If you would like any other websites or resources containing information on this subject please email me

at lylesilverman@gmail.com