Maine Voices:
Reading success depends greatly on what happens before school
Children need exposure both to vocabulary and grammar -- in very large quantities.
By SUE REED
PORTLAND - The precursor to reading success is exposure to a lot of language and literacy from birth to 5 years of age: at home, in child care, in preschool or Head Start.
Elijah De Gouveia, 5, of Standish reads a book in the new children's area of the Portland Public Library.
Press Herald file
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sue Reed is the director of an Early Reading First project at the Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine.
It is during this time in a child's development when the stage is set for reading success or failure. It is also the best time to intervene when a child has not been exposed to high-quality language and literacy environments.
Over the past 15 years, an enormous amount of research has been focused on what a child needs to know before entering the early elementary grades, specifically around language.
Language development is what leads to literacy. Children need exposure to both vocabulary and grammar -- in very large quantities. They need to hear and participate in spoken language with the people in their lives and hear it as it sounds in written form, through hearing books being read.
However, just being read to is not enough. Children need to participate in discussions and talk about books -- the pictures, the characters, the plot and their misunderstandings. This is what many parents do with their children every night at bedtime without even realizing it.
What happens when children are denied this "language bath"?
A seminal research study by Todd Hart and Betty Risley has shown that children's early language experiences vary widely, depending on the income and education of their parents.
Certainly, there are exceptions, but the children from homes with the lowest income and least educated parents heard 30 million fewer words spoken to them from the time they were 6 months old to the age of 3 than those with the highest educated parents.
Moreover, the children of the most educated families had larger vocabularies than the parents of the poorest children.
Not only were there many fewer words, but the majority of the words the lowest income children heard were prohibitions (e.g., "Sit down." "Be quiet.") Other research has shown consistently that these "management" words do nothing to increase reading ability.
Hart and Risley followed the same children through third grade -- the time when reading comprehension (vocabulary) really starts to matter. The children with the smallest vocabularies at age 3 struggled the most with reading at age 8.
Though it is sometimes possible for children to catch up later on, catching up costs time and money, both of which are in short supply in the public school system today.
So, what can we do?
First, talk to children, whether we are parents, relatives, teachers, caregivers or neighbors. Talk to them about what is happening: Why is the squirrel carrying an acorn in his mouth? What is the bulldozer doing at the end of our street? What happens to the noodles as they cook on the stove? In the reading world, this is called "background knowledge" and it is almost always full of great vocabulary.
Without vocabulary, children will sound out words, but never understand a word they read, let alone a passage or a book.
To understand what this feels like, pick up a college physics book and try to read a chapter (that is, if you're not a physicist). You can probably sound out the words, but have no idea what you are reading. That's because you have no vocabulary or background knowledge to understand.
In order to access text in third and fourth grade, children need the background knowledge and vocabulary that they get from their families.
Second, read to children. Get a library card and take out books. For parents who may have difficulty reading, sign out books on tape or CD. Even for parents who may struggle with their own literacy, there are picture books to discuss. Take children to the weekly library story hour.
For parents who work, make sure the child is in a setting where teachers are talking about interesting and important things and, of course, reading often.
Until all children are exposed to both quantity and quality talk, we will always have struggling readers and the achievement gap will remain wide open.
- Special to the Press Herald
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25 COMMENTS
Mom said...
I will add to this that even those children who are well-prepared can have their desire to read killed by the "reading log" that is assigned in the early years. There was nothing more disappointing to see than children who either got a bad grade for reading a book without doing the reading logs, or children who stopped reading all together because the reading log distracted their interest in reading. The love of reading cannot be mandated, but only fostered.
July 14, 2010 at 7:40 AM Report abuse
Justanotha1 said...
It sounds like "Mom" had a child who struggled with keeping up with expectations from school despite being 'well-prepared' to read, and now has a beef with a school that she shouldn't have. A well-prepared parent of a child 'in the early years' should be willing to jump in to help monitor that the reading log was completed, or work with the teacher to find a way to show that the child was reading without a formal reading log. Reading logs are effective ways of communicating between home and school what the child is SUPPOSED to be doing and what he or she IS doing. They serve an excellent purpose and work quite well for the majority of children. If it doesn't work for YOUR child, talk to the teacher to find a way to get the same information, or modify the assignment so that it does work.
July 14, 2010 at 8:09 AM Report abuse
Steve0 said...
Once again it is shown that PARENTING is the key to how well children do in school, not how much money the school gets. Higher income towns have better schools not because of better funding, but because people with higher incomes usually are better educated, value education more, and pass those values on to their children.
July 14, 2010 at 8:39 AM Report abuse
mdenis46 said...
Hoping I'm wrong, but "Mom" sounds like the type of parent I used to fear -- wanting her child to get a good grade because he was a good kid, without doing the required work. I actually had one threaten to sue me if I didn't pass her son (a great kid, whom I liked) who did NO work -- and this was in an ADULT ED class!
July 14, 2010 at 8:40 AM Report abuse
Mom said...
Yes, you are quite correct in your first statement. Please do not assume that Mom didn't talk to teachers. The arguments you will make for the rest of the day will be similar what Mom heard for many years. If these children could just be allowed/encouraged to finish their books and be celebrated for it, teaching them in the early years that books are useful, the teacher would know from the result that the work was beng done. We should not have to interrupt a reading child to communicate with eachother. Mom's children are grown now and doing fine. Time flies through the school years, and no amount of talking to teachers can help some children succeed at school, when expectations can not consider each individual learner... that is, if the goal is to learn the material. Having survived it, I support this article. Talk to children early, in real language, about real interesting things, give them love and help them be who they are.
July 14, 2010 at 8:50 AM Report abuse
deceiver said...
If a child has no reading disabilities and is read to and talked to when he is young then reading will become a passion. It doesn't matter if the schools do things incorrectly with the child. Reading will become something a child will do in secret even if you forbade it. The schools may assist or actually discourage good reading habits, but they can't stop it. The need for fiction and knowledge is innate unless reading is painful for the child.
July 14, 2010 at 9:12 AM Report abuse
Mom said...
I agree with "Deceiver." Mdenis46, no, I was not that kind of parent, though you may have misjudged me as such. I had fiercly independent and industrious kids. I actually think that it's education's loss when pegs have to be forced into holes into which they do not fit. That's it for now.
July 14, 2010 at 9:26 AM Report abuse
common_cents said...
Given the dominance of media and popular culture; the decline of child appropriate reading; and the rise of ethnic and other 'street' subcultures It may well be nearly impossible to improve the reading, comprehension and vocabulary skills of targeted groups of learners.....am I caving in to HIP-HOP, texting, sound bite journalism, and Sports rap? YUP. Good luck teaching your kids reading!!
July 14, 2010 at 10:00 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
And yet THE CITY and the Portland PUBLIC Library Board of DIRECTORS CHOSE TO close ONLY those branch libraries where OUR POOREST and neediest kids(think ELL) live , making access to books impossible and actively PUSHING these kids further behind!!!Talk about being insensitive and OUT of step with the needs of the community. A Taj Mahal library was MORE important than it's primary missiion-- free and public access to books for ALL.( not just some) Access to books at PUBIC libraries play a critical role for our most vulnerable and neediest residents. And PORTLAND shuts them down!!!!
July 14, 2010 at 10:25 AM Report abuse
CatTailMom said...
Reading logs: I am an inveterate reader. But if I had to do a reading log for every book, my enthusiasm would end abruptly. I understand the use of a reasding log occasionally, but not regularly; the practice can be a love-of-reading killer.
July 14, 2010 at 10:31 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
steve sounds like you think only the children of the already educated DESERVE to get an education since they are much "easier" to teach. HMM kind of contradict that whole rags to riches,opportunity for all, american dream thing, doesn't it. Maybe only the "elite" deserve an education. Just like church best serve those who "need" it the most, the same is true with education.
July 14, 2010 at 10:36 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
And it sounds like it was "MOM" who felt over burdened by the requirement for those reading logs and failed to fill them in for her child or to take the time to help the child do so. It's called accountability. The message she is sending to the child IF she is bemoaning the requirement in front of the child is: 1 life(and learning) is hard 2 YOU don't have to follow the same proscribed rules as everyone else. 3 setting the stage for a behavioral( AND learning) problem. PS most parent just fill it in FOR the child with NO fuss OR they take ONE- FIVE minutes to show the child how to copy it from the book.IF filling out a reading log is HARD, Can you imagine how much harder life is going to get???
July 14, 2010 at 10:48 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
MOM do you think in the work force johnny can just skip the paperwork part of the job?? NOT likely, IF it is a requirement OF the job.OH well I'm guessing "Johnny" struggled in life, from pre K thru adulthood!!
July 14, 2010 at 10:58 AM Report abuse
Mom said...
Henryelm, good point about the libraries, and about those who are easy to teach. A little more compassion for overwhelmed parents would go a long way to help their children. Thank you CatTailMom for your support. Finally, I think we should all go to the library and read some biographies about some of the most celebrated movers and shakers throughout history who have contributed in positive ways to society, and see if they all did their homework. I'm certain we would find several free thinkers, and those who didn't quite fit the mold, who may have even had uneducated or overwhelmed parents. What can we learn from them to have the most positive impact on children who already do well, as well as those who struggle to do well for whatever reason.
July 14, 2010 at 11:07 AM Report abuse
Steve0 said...
henryelm said... steve sounds like you think only the children of the already educated DESERVE to get an education since they are much "easier" to teach. HMM kind of contradict that whole rags to riches,opportunity for all, american dream thing, doesn't it. Maybe only the "elite" deserve an education. =================== My comment wasn't about what people deserve. Educating a child is a combination of parenting and adequate schools. If one part of the equation is missing, the child is likely to perform poorly. I didn't grow up in a "rich" town or have well-off parents, but I did have parents who valued education and learning. Nice attempt at trying to paint me as an elitist though.
July 14, 2010 at 11:19 AM Report abuse
Steve0 said...
Mom said... Finally, I think we should all go to the library and read some biographies about some of the most celebrated movers and shakers throughout history who have contributed in positive ways to society, and see if they all did their homework. I'm certain we would find several free thinkers, and those who didn't quite fit the mold =============== Just because Einstein didn't do his homework doesn't make your kid a genius.
July 14, 2010 at 11:24 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
"Just because Einstein didn't do his homework doesn't make your kid a genius." good point!!! see accountability comes from all places. The purpose of homework is to 1."practice' the lesson of the day. 2. to provide an opportunity FOR communication between home and school.3 to engage parents in their child's learning ( yup some parents aren't engaged) 4 to make teachers( and parents)MORE accountable. The last 2 reasons are merely window dressing.I think homework starts way too early for kids BUT it is what it is and what society DEMANDS. We live in a different world then when I was in school.
July 14, 2010 at 11:51 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
practicing reading is critical to being good at it. some people can succeed without being good readers BUT it is hard to do so. summer reading is critical for kids NOT to slip back.
July 14, 2010 at 11:58 AM Report abuse
Walker said...
I trained to be a teacher through the USM ETEP program. I was very disappointed in that training and in the schools where I interned. Sad to say, I think more learning takes place in the home than in the classroom. Our public schools are atrocious.
July 14, 2010 at 4:40 PM Report abuse
Mom said...
My "beef" against the schools is only when they try to replace parents as teachers, or expect parents to do parts that may be more effectively done in the schools. This article support the notion that parents are the first teachers, and this discussion supports the notion that parents continue to be teachers throughout the school years of a child. This is a good thing. We can learn from this and build on it. Children love their parents, and the point I make now is that parents as natural teachers should have more respect from our partners in the schools than I have received here in this discussion. In this regard, I will repeat that I, and at least one other person in this discussion, have made the educated observation from experience that required reading logs may be counter productive to the development of life-long readers, and in some cases even harmful. To blame schools or parents for not being engaged or accountable is missing the point, and part of the problem, in my opinion.
July 14, 2010 at 6:56 PM Report abuse
BB said...
This report is sensible but the solution is not just getting poorly educated parents to “do the right thing”. We live in a society that allows families to exist in poverty, we have no commitment to great education for all, we tolerate wages that require working multiple jobs to make ends meet, we see social work as a unfair fiscal burden, we split families with endless war deployments, and we exclude many from robust health care or allow poverty to result from paying for health care. Getting the reading time, the vocabulary building time, the book discussion time requires parental time that a society must willingly commit to over a long time in order to achieve the aspiration of becoming a competitive nation of competent, skilled, readers. This also allows for a more engaged and socially conscious democracy to flourish which may indeed be a fear of those who have yanked away and never re-allow social service nets for the working poor, and struggling lower middle class.
July 14, 2010 at 10:18 PM Report abuse
common_cents said...
Suppose you went to a public housing project and identified all the apt.s with young kids living in them. Now suppose you created a portable reading library of age appropriate literature for each of those apts. How many parent s would create a place for the library? Would the apt. managers give such a family a larger apt. Or build a study nook? How many parents have enough English literacy skills to help their children? and how many families will be able to return the portable study carrel at the end of the school year for restocking? If you want reading success, it must start in the home!
July 15, 2010 at 2:00 PM Report abuse
common_cents said...
Suppose you went to a public housing project and identified all the apt.s with young kids living in them. Now suppose you created a portable reading library of age appropriate literature for each of those apts. How many parent s would create a place for the library? Would the apt. managers give such a family a larger apt. Or build a study nook? How many parents have enough English literacy skills to help their children? and how many families will be able to return the portable study carrel at the end of the school year for restocking? If you want reading success, it must start in the home!
July 15, 2010 at 2:00 PM Report abuse
OldMainer2 said...
Sounds like a plea for more money for early childhood classes is coming soon. We have to grow the education empire instead of requiring accountability from the schools for teaching children to read. The best use of funding would be to pay teachers based on how well students can read. I'm sure you'd be amazed at the reading results if teacher compensation was based on how well a child could read instead of whether or not the teacher can fog a mirror for another year.
July 16, 2010 at 12:16 PM Report abuse
common_cents said...
I knew a teacher who accelerated her preschooler so he could read 3rd grade text books by the time he was 5. Homeschoolers know it can be done; public school bureaucracies expand accordingly.
July 16, 2010 at 2:29 PM Report abuse