Building Your Child’s Ability to Communicate: Reading

Reading is one of the most beneficial things you can do with your child. In the early months of life, your child will not understand the things you are reading to her, but she will understand many other important things from reading with you. She will understand that sitting on your lap and hearing your voice is pleasurable. She will come to understand that a person’s voice moves in a certain rhythm, and the sounds she hears repeat themselves in certain patterns. She will learn that you are interested in what is on the page for some reason, and she will eventually become interested, too.

As time moves on and you continue to read to her, she will come to recognize many words you say and relate them to her real life experiences. She will see that the pictures in the book relate to what you are saying with your mouth. She will come to understand that the marks on the page are called letters, and that when you put them in certain groups called words, they mean something. She will learn that books tell stories that are enjoyable to hear and think about. As she matures, she will come to understand that she can learn just about anything she wants to know by reading. As she hears you read and learns to read herself, she will develop a rich vocabulary which will allow her to express her feelings and ideas and send them out into the world. She will learn to speak, to write and to think from listening to you read.