Reading

Now Is the Right Time!

As a parent or someone in a parenting role, you play an essential role in your child’s success. There are intentional ways to grow a healthy parent-child relationship from the start, and supporting your infant’s development now in ways that will help your child read when they are older is a great way to do it.

It may seem that the only things infants can do in these early months of life involve eating, sleeping, and crying. In fact, they are learning so much more. Your infant’s brain will double in size in the first year. Preparing to learn to read begins as early as possible, long before your child can read a word on a page. No matter what age, it is always good to develop a habit of reading books together, and there are many other things you can do to develop early reading skills as well.

Reading skills are grown by talking and singing, playing rhyming games together, and reading to your infant often to grow their vocabulary and knowledge about the world. The early years are the right time for developing language skills, playing with sounds, and enjoying books together so children will be ready for reading in the future.

Throughout the first year, your infant is turning to you to help them figure out what is important to pay attention to in the world. When you fill your infant’s day with talking, singing, rhyming, and reading, they learn that language is essential. Your infant is interested in your voice, the words you choose, the rhythms of your speech, the songs you sing, and the books you love.

The steps below include specific, practical strategies for having fun with your infant while growing a relationship that includes reliable, unconditional support and love.

Why Reading?

Your infant’s experiences, including singing, rhyming, and playing with you, are essential to developing a healthy brain, growing creativity skills, learning about language and feelings, and strengthening their relationship with you. These experiences will also help them learn to read when they are older.

You can begin by exposing your infant to songs, sounds, and books they can explore – even if that means drooling on them in the first years! As time goes on, they will turn to you for new words and stories and will connect language and reading with the joy they feel when they are having fun with you.

Today, in the short term, building a foundation for reading can

• develop a foundation for language skills
• provide opportunities for fun times with you as you learn new songs and stories together
• create a love of learning that will encourage your infant to explore and be curious

Tomorrow, in the long term, building a foundation for reading

• prepares your child for success in school
• provides a firm foundation for exploration, learning, and speaking up
• helps them identify thoughts, feelings, and challenges, which grows self-awareness
• helps them manage impulses so they can stay focused on the story, which grows self-management
• helps them become more socially aware as they learn how to take cues from others about how to use language together in games and songs
• helps them grow responsible decision-making skills as they learn good reading habits and learn to ask for help when needed
• creates shared family stories, games, and memories

Five Steps for Talking About Reading

This five-step process helps you and your infant provide a foundation for developing language skills, playing with sounds, and enjoying books together so they will be ready for reading in the future. The same process can also be used to address other parenting issues (learn more about the process)
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Infants communicate with you using facial expressions, body language, crying, and other sounds. Paying close attention to your infant’s facial expressions, body movements, and sounds helps you better understand what they are trying to communicate. Your efforts to learn from your infant build trust and create empathetic interactions that let them know you are interested in their thoughts. This will make a big difference in setting the stage for early reading. Your infant will give you many cues about what they are ready to learn.

In paying attention and noting minor differences in your infant’s cries, body language, and speaking, you

• show them that they can trust you to notice how they feel
• let them know that you will help them face challenges
• deepen your ability to communicate with one another

Actions

• Language and relationship development set the stage for later reading success. Simple interactions can engage your infant. Your infant may not be able to respond with words, but they can respond with eye contact, facial expression, and body movements.
• Copy your infant’s sounds. If your infant makes a cooing sound, you make it, too, to show them you are listening. Then, encourage your infant to do it again.
• Make sounds together. You might help your infant to touch your lips as you press them together to make an “M” sound for “Mom.” Exaggerate the “M” sound, and they can feel the vibrations. After pausing and giving them plenty of time to make sounds and expressions, you might share what you notice. For example, “I see you smiling when I make the “M” sound. Do you want to try making it, too?”

Infants are learning how to engage in their world through loving interactions. These interactions include growing skills that will help them learn how to read when they are older. Skill building takes intentional practice.

Learning about developmental milestones can help you better understand what your infant is experiencing.¹

• 0-3-month-olds will turn their head toward, become quiet, or smile in response to a familiar voice. They start to make eye contact around three months. They cry differently depending on the situation. They will coo and enjoy playful facial interaction with others.
• 4-6-month-olds listen and respond when spoken to. They make consonant sounds through babbling to gain attention and make different sounds to express feelings. They enjoy playful interactions like peek-a-boo and will begin to raise their arms to be picked up.
• 7-9-month-olds use sounds and syllables in babbling to communicate and gain attention. They recognize their name and turn to objects and people when mentioned. They participate in two-way communication, can follow simple directions when paired with physical gestures, and offer simple nonverbal cues like head shaking to indicate “no.”
• 10-12-month-olds use “Mama” or “Dada,” who can follow simple directions and say one or two words with complete sentences of imitation babbling. They understand “no.” They will use their hands to communicate their needs and point to objects of interest. They will explore when placed on the floor.

Teaching is different than just telling. Teaching builds basic skills, grows problem-solving abilities, and sets your infant up for success. Teaching also involves modeling and practicing the positive behaviors you want to see, promoting skills, and preventing problems.

Actions²

• Read together. Read books together during the day or as part of your bedtime routine. Your infant will eventually be able to hold a book, look at the pictures, and likely put the book in their mouth. Encourage this exploration.
• Read or chant rhymes or poetry to your infant — particularly ones with repetitive words and sounds.
• Make your thinking and feelings explicit. Talk about what you notice, how you feel, why you feel it, and what signs you are giving. “I have so much fun singing songs with you. La La La La La!”
• Cultivate a love of playing with language and stories. This might include sharing funny poems and making silly faces every time you make a rhyme. Diaper changing time is a perfect time for silly faces and rhymes.

Your daily routines are opportunities for your infant to practice vital new skills. With practice, your infant will improve over time as you give them the chance with support. Practice grows vital new brain connections that strengthen (and eventually form habits) each time your infant works hard toward a goal or demonstrates belief in themself.

Practice also provides essential opportunities to grow self-efficacy – a child’s sense that they can do a task successfully. This leads to confidence. It helps them understand that mistakes and failures are part of learning.

Talk, sing, rhyme, read, and play are important ways to build a foundation for reading.

Actions

• Keep age-appropriate books within reach so your infant can enjoy them when they choose. Books that let children press buttons to make sounds give them a chance to take some control of their sound-making.
• Use your infant’s dolls or stuffed animals to act out moments of enjoying language and reading. This is an excellent way to practice what it feels like to be a reader and to build that part of your infant’s identity. “Let’s bring Teddy over here so he can hear the story, too.”
• Provide opportunities for your infant to use language and words in a way that is just a bit more challenging than what they have done before. The goal is to develop experiences beyond what they are comfortable with. Add new sounds if they have already made the “M” sound with you for quite some time. Or add a new sound next to the “M”: “Mmmmmm-bop.”
• Practice making music together. Softly clapping your hands together is a fun activity to engage your infant.

At this point, you are developing your infant’s language skills by playing with sounds and enjoying books together so they will be ready for reading in the future. You allow your infant to practice so they can learn and grow.

Now, you can offer continued support and generate excitement and positive feelings about language and reading.

Actions

• Learn about your infant’s development. Each new age presents different challenges, and being informed about your infant’s developmental milestones promotes empathy and patience.
• Recognize effort by using “I notice…” statements like: “I notice you are making a singing sound. Hooray!”
• Build reading and songs into your daily routines and comment on how important those parts of your routines are. “It’s time to change your diaper; that means it’s time to sing our favorite song.”

No matter how old your child is, your positive reinforcement and encouragement have a significant impact.

If your infant is working to grow their skills – even in small ways – it will be worthwhile to recognize it. Your recognition can go a long way in promoting positive behaviors and expanding your infant’s confidence. Your recognition also promotes safe, secure, and nurturing relationships — a foundation for strong communication and a healthy relationship with you as they grow.

There are many ways to reinforce your infant’s efforts. It is helpful to distinguish between three types of reinforcement: recognition, rewards, and bribes. These three distinct parenting behaviors have different impacts on your infant’s behavior.

Recognition occurs after you observe the desired behavior in your infant. Noticing and naming the specific behavior you want to reinforce is key to promoting more of it. For example, “You are moving your arms and legs when you hear the clapping sound—I love seeing that!”  Recognition can include nonverbal acknowledgment, such as a smile or hug.

Rewards can be helpful in certain situations by providing a concrete, timely, and positive incentive for doing a good job.  A reward is determined beforehand so the child knows what to expect, like “If you listen to the story, we will get a treat when we are done.” (If you XX, then I’ll XX.) It stops any negotiations in the heat of the moment.  A reward could be used to teach positive behavior or break a bad habit. The goal should be to help your child progress to a time when the reward will no longer be needed. If used too often, rewards can decrease a child’s internal motivation.

Unlike a reward, bribes aren’t planned ahead of time and generally happen when a parent or someone in a parenting role is in the middle of a crisis (like in the grocery store checkout line and a child is having a tantrum. To avoid disaster, a parent offers to buy a sucker if the child will stop the tantrum). While bribes can be helpful in the short term to manage stressful situations, they will not grow lasting motivation or behavior change and should be avoided.

Actions

• Recognize and call out when things are going well. It may seem obvious, but it’s easy not to notice when everything is moving along smoothly. Noticing and naming the behavior provides the necessary reinforcement that you see and value your child’s choice.
• Recognize small steps along the way. Don’t wait for significant accomplishments—like the full bedtime routine going smoothly—to recognize effort. Remember that your recognition can work as a tool to promote more positive behaviors. Find small ways your child is making an effort and let them know you see them.
• Build celebrations into your routine. For example, after getting through your bedtime routine, snuggle and read before bed. Or, in the morning, once ready for school, take a few minutes to listen to music together.

Closing

Engaging in these five steps is an investment that will strengthen your skills as an effective parent or someone in a parenting role on many other issues and develop essential skills that will last a lifetime for your child. Through this tool, infants can learn to love reading from the very beginning.