The Reading Brain Part 2

This episode dives into the world of emergent literacy. It explores the first steps in literacy from birth to age two. Host is developmental therapist, Kayla O'Neil and literacy expert, Lynne Hall.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Early Childhood On The Go podcast. I'm your host, Kayla O'Neill, and today we're diving into the magical world of emergent literacy, those very first steps in language and reading that began from birth to age two. With me again is my colleague and friend, Lynn Hall. She's a research associate at the Early Childhood Center and early literacy expert. Lynn, it's so great to have you back. Thanks, Kayla. I am so excited to be here. The immersion stage is foundational. It's when babies start discovering language in ways that set them up for future success. Let's start with the big picture. What's actually happening in emergent literacy from birth to about age two? So emergent literacy is all about early skills that will eventually read children to reading and writing. But remember, it doesn't come from formal lessons. Emergent literacy activities support children for their skills to unfold naturally through play and daily interactions. So even babies are learning before they can talk? Exactly. From birth to six months, babies are tuning into voices and rhythms. They coo, they smile, they recognize familiar sounds. Research shows that their brains are already wiring connections in that auditory cortex for language. That's amazing. So what happens next? So by 6 to 12 months, babies start babbling. Ba-ba, da-da, things like that. They can point to familiar objects when named, so they're starting to understand that everything has its own name or word, and their brain is linking sounds to meanings. at the same time pruning begins we talked about this a little bit last time that's when the connections that they use often get stronger and the ones they don't use as much start to fade and that's when the books really start to matter right right so around a year old toddlers might pat pictures turn pages and even pretend to read and by 18 months they're saying their first real words like mama or ball. Then comes the vocabulary explosion. By two years, they may even start stringing words into short phrases like more milk. They sometimes even mimic reading, holding those books upright and reading to their stuffed animals. All this shows that they are growing their print awareness and their curiosity about language. So how can parents and caregivers support all of this growth? And what does a print-rich environment look like at this stage? Yeah, so a print-rich environment is one that surrounds children with books and meaningful print. It's really about making literacy and print a part of their everyday life. So for infants, that might mean board books, cloth books, even those waterproof books that we like to give them in the bath. And toddlers like something different? Yeah, right. So toddlers love those baby books still, but they start to really enjoy those interactive books, the ones that have the different textures on them or those peekaboo flaps. And you can also label everyday objects like door or cup with pictures and words family photos with names underneath are great too children love those and one of my favorites is to create a cozy nook with pillows with baskets of books that really invite toddlers to come and explore books and like we talked about in our last episode Kayla we have lots of busy toddlers that really don't like to sit down and hear a story so having these nook nooks with those interactive books and soft cozy places to sit really entices them to engage more with those materials I love that idea and it's so simple but it's really effective like I remember having we had a big comfy chair in our house and we just keep a basket of books next next to it and you know it was a place where they would sometimes just explore books on their own or they'd crawl up into the chair with us and we'd do you know a little story um I just love that tip yeah it really is and it's something that you don't have to think about even having it in just one place right you might have that cozy nook with your pillows and blankets maybe in your family room right but like you're saying having the books in the bath time and having books I was when my kids were little I had that basket of books in the bathroom with their little potty seat because we spent a lot of time trying to get them interested in the potty and then when they got interested sitting on the potty so what another great time that we can just add more books into their day and really any daily routine can become a literacy moment right you know when we're thinking about our meal times can we read the food labels can we talk about the print on the front of our canned vegetables that kind of thing when you're going on a walk pointing out all of that environmental print on the signs like the stop sign the pedestrian crossing those kinds of things We talked a little bit about bath time, but then putting those foam letters in there that kind of float and they can stick them onto the walls is fun. When print feels like a part of their world, children really start to see books as joyful and not as work. And that's really what we want to do. We want them to be excited about books for it to be something that they look forward to and that gives them positive feelings. And I love your idea about, you know, adding it really to those daily routines, because we know parents are busy and if you can add it to something that you're already doing it becomes a habit you know if you read a book during bath time you're going to remember and it's not adding one more thing it's just you know part of the day so I love that and I'd love to talk even more about you know some practical things for everybody listening what are some fun activities that parents can try to really boost language during these years yeah so for infants those FaceTime chats are really wonderful and important. Holding your baby close and narrating what you're doing with some exaggerated expressions can be really helpful. Singing lullabies and nursery rhymes adds rhythm and sound play to the interaction. How about older babies? So for our older babies, let's say around six to 12 months, they really start to enjoy those touch and feel books. You know, the ones that they can kind of squeeze and crunch up, that kind of thing. You want to pause so they can pat those different textures while you're naming them. Lots of the animal books that toddlers love have the different textures like the fur that's soft or the tongue that might be rough, that kind of thing. And we're saying soft bunny, rough tongue, playing peekaboo games with books or scarves can build anticipation and really encourage our older babies to give us some vocal response. How about our toddler friends? Our little toddlers from 12 to 18 months pointing and naming games are lots of fun. They enjoy those, you know, the whole what's this, what's that. If you're on a walk, you can point and say, look, a big tree. And those action songs that you can sing like the itsy bitsy spider with those gestures we really want our toddlers to start imitating more of those finger play gestures and in those family photos saying who's that to spark our toddlers to start babbling and even telling their own little stories about what's happening how about by about age two or so when we're thinking about our toddlers our little older toddlers 18 to 24 months, rhyming games are great. Read books with rhymes and emphasize those sound patterns that the sounds at the end of the words sound the same. Playing some echo games, you might say, you say up, I say up, that kind of thing. Even block play can become a literacy activity when you're narrating as you're stacking those blocks on top of each other and you're saying up, up, up. And remember, the goal is to keep it short, playful, joyful. If your toddler is not interested, walk away, come back at another time. I love how these activities are not only great for literacy, but they also double as that bonding time for connection. One term that comes up a lot is language modeling. Why is that so important in this stage? So language modeling is really important because it's all about giving children rich examples of speech. Babies thrive on hearing varied vocabulary and sentence patterns. It literally strengthens the pathways in their brain. How about toddlers? So with toddlers, language modeling expands their words. So for example, if they say ball, you can reply with, yes, the red ball is bouncing. This is going to teach them grammar, new words, and really the flow of conversation without any pressure. Research says that modeling boosts vocabulary, comprehension, and children's confidence. So we're not, you know, giving them drills of any sort. It's more about just talking and expanding on what they're already saying. Exactly that, Kayla. Without language modeling, children miss chances to connect words to real life. With language modeling, they grow into confident communicators and later confident readers. This has been so interesting. But before we wrap up, what are your top takeaways for parents of infants and toddlers? I would say start early. Talk, sing, and read every day. And even though these concepts are probably not new for most families. Being intentional about it can make a huge difference. A lot of times we think we're doing these things more frequently than we are. Make books and print part of daily life. Model language patiently. Celebrate every milestone no matter how small. Remembering that all children develop at their own pace and the age guidelines that we kind of about today are very general, typical toddler and baby development, but there's a huge spectrum to consider. And maybe most importantly, limit that screen time with our infants and our toddlers so that our real interactions have the opportunity to be prioritized because that is going to be what makes the biggest difference for them. That's wonderful advice, Lynn. Thank you so much for guiding us through this critical stage. My pleasure, Kayla. And that's our episode of early childhood on the go. Thank you for listening and don't forget to subscribe and share.