Published: May 06, 2008 06:41 pm         

Parents can serve as model for ‘how literacy really works’

JOPLIN, Mo. — Society seems eager to replace things. Compact discs have replaced cassettes tapes, while coal-powered energy is slowly being phased out by renewable sources. The same trend can be observed in parenting.

Traditional childhood games, such as jumping rope and four-square, have been replaced with electronic game consoles, while some parents find the television to be an appropriate substitute for a baby-sitter.

But can communicating with your child ever be replaced? Experts say the answer is a resounding no.

According to Dr. DiAnn Hunter with St. John’s Regional Medical Center, medical professionals have determined that the spoken word develops parts of a child’s brain beyond just the linguistic center. It also develops greater cognitive, auditory and visual skills.

“We know that interaction enhances development,” said Hunter.

’Like clay’

ABC’s “Good Morning America” recently reported that by the time a child is 4 years old, they should have heard as many as 25 million words — that’s an intimidating 17,000 words a day.

While Dr. H. Keith Cochran, an associate professor of psychology at Missouri Southern State University, is unsure there is an exact number of words a parent should focus on, he is a firm believer that a child — especially in the beginning years of life — is “extremely malleable.”

“Children really are like clay in the hands of a potter,” said Cochran. “During the early years of their life they pick up things like vocabulary, accents and dialects.”

Cochran also believes that children are a lot more aware of adults’ use of speech and even use specific speech patterns a lot earlier than we give them credit for.

“A child may cry to signal unpleasant feelings such as being wet, hungry or tired,” Cochran said, “and use cooing sounds, practicing vowels, to convey they are content or happy.”

Importance of reading

Dr. Maxine Morris, an associate professor of teacher education at Missouri Southern, said parents play a very important role in developing a child’s overall vocabulary.

Morris notes that when parents read to youngsters early on, they are often better readers later on in life.

St. John’s once sponsored a program called Reach Out and Read that helped foster this, Hunter said.

“When parents came with their child for a check-up, even as young as 6 months old, we’d send them home with a short paperback book and encourage them to begin reading to their child,” she said.

Play-by-play

While speaking 17,000 words a day may seem like a long shot, literacy coaches and experts encourage parents to become somewhat of a “sportscaster,” giving their child a play-by-play analysis of daily activities occurring throughout the day.

Morris believes that when parents talk normally to their children, they are in effect “giving them a model of how language and literacy really works.”

Cochran said children learn the proper use of language by having parents reinforce proper sentence structure and vocabulary, as well as correcting misuses of words or grammar.

He likens the beginning of a child’s life to a “wide-open window of opportunity“ that slowly closes over time. The further the child gets through that window the more linguistically successful they will be.

Place a child in the right environment, Cochran said, and no doubt will they flourish.



Valerie Melton writes for The Joplin (Mo.) Globe.



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Language tips

The following tips can help parents to develop their child’s language skills.

Infants

Talk to your baby when holding him, feeding him or changing him.

Narrate what you are doing in your daily routines.

Talk in short sentences and use short phrases.

Respond to your baby’s sounds and attempts to talk.

Toddlers

Build your child’s vocabulary during normal conversations.

Help your child know words to talk about and describe feelings and emotions.

Give simple one or two word instructions.

Respond to your toddler’s communication and stay on topic.

Preschoolers

Talk about what your child is doing and what you’re doing. Ask questions that extend their thinking.

Practice taking turns in conversations.

Read with your preschooler. Involve your preschooler as you are reading.

Source: www.childcareaware.org