5 Compelling Reasons to Teach Your Young Child to Read

With all the press about struggling students in schools, parents are constantly thinking about how to help their children get ahead. Dr. J. Richard Gentry PhD., recently revealed his 5 reasons why engaging very young children in reading can be such an advantage for their long-term overall development.

Language Proficiency Develops Fastest Age 0-6

Babies are absorbing language from Day 1. Their brains triple in size during their first year of life and by the time they are 5, it’s about as big as ours. It is during this period that the neural pathways are formed for language and that makes reading so important.

It’s a huge advantage to have early literacy engagement for children

By engaging your child in reading aloud and lots of direct interaction, Gentry says we can give our children a 32-million-word advantage by the time they begin kindergarten. Just a few minutes a day spent on reading and speaking can not only help your child develop, Gentry says there is even evidence this can cut down on learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

When babies are young, reading is fun

Unlike an elementary student who is starting from scratch, babies find reading to be super fun and more like a game versus a chore or a requirement. They also learn much faster when they are young. Gentry’s book includes all kinds of age-appropriate games and activities for children to do with their parents to learn.

A baby’s brain is built for reading

Gentry’s experience has shown a baby’s brain is especially receptive to patterns and symbols and their meaning, even for children as young as 8 months. Perceiving meaning in patterns and symbols is really the essential elements of reading and children understand that meaning very quickly.

Even 5 minutes a day showing your child contrasting word patterns can lead a 2- or 3-year-old to intuitive learning. Multimedia techniques, such as “Your Baby Can Read” helps reinforce the reading and sharing of books.

The right-brain learning is what makes babies special

Gentry says when childhood education experts study only the ways elementary students learn, they are seeing only the left-brain learning inherent in the reading systems of formal instruction.  Reading for a baby is picked up just like languages via the right brain hemisphere. If a child is exposed to multiple languages as a baby, he or she is much more likely to master the languages at a young age; the same is true for reading.

Read more about Gentry and his compelling expertise in “Raising Confident Readers: How to Teach Your Child to Read and Write – from Baby to Age 7” and at www.jrichardgentry.com.

Marijo Tinlin is the editor in chief of Family First, one of the oldest family-oriented websites on the internet. She is also the author of the new book “How to Raise an American Patriot, Making it Okay for Our Kids to Be Proud to Be American” available at www.raisinganamericanpatriot.com.