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In the past few months, I've had many opportunities to interact with parents of preschool and elementary school age children, both as I’ve gone around to schools and bookstores to promote Book Smart: How to Develop and Support Successful, Motivated Readers and because I’ve embarked on a new research project that involves providing parent reading workshops. It’s been so much fun for me, especially because one of the things I miss most about being a school psychologist who works in school settings is daily interactions with parents. I’m continually impressed by how much time and energy parents dedicate to helping their children overcome obstacles and do their best, and this dedication is easily apparent when parents drag themselves back out on a weeknight after work to go hear a book talk or line up babysitters for the next six weeks to go to a workshop that may help their child become a more successful reader. It’s inspiring!
Some of the questions I’ve heard in the past few months focus on what makes most sense for young children: Is there an age when it is too early to read together? Is it okay to read the same book over and over again, or should I make my child pick a new book? Is it okay that he only wants to read on the iPad? These are big and important questions, and it is clear that technology is having an effect on how family conversation and reading time plays out across the country. We continue to do the best we can to answer these questions based on what we know, and to use data and good science to help parents truly pinpoint what makes most sense for their children at different ages.
In the past few weeks, some good answers to these questions have been shared widely (rather than just in research labs and dusty journals). First, there was a great article in The New York Times that explained very clearly why it is important for young children to write by hand, rather than electronically. Not only does writing with pencil and paper help children improve their early letter recognition skills, it also helps older students hold information in memory. As schools encourage younger and younger students to do their reading, writing, and annotating on tablets, it is so important for researchers to continue to study this issue. The motor and tactile components of writing the old-fashioned way facilitate many important literacy and cognitive skills, and since reading and writing go hand-in-hand, these findings are important to consider when thinking about the best strategies to use when supporting reading development. There are pros and cons of allowing children to read on electronic devices, but the research is mixed enough that parents should continue to exercise caution, limit screen time, and find time to make some family trips to the library this summer.
The other big finding that parents may be interested in this week is one that demonstrates that even babies should be included in that library trip. The American Academy of Pediatrics disseminated a policy statement this week that encourages pediatricians to provide parents with the information and resources necessary to read to their children daily beginning in infancy. I am thrilled about this announcement for two reasons. First, it helps highlight the importance of shared reading from cradle to college, which is an important message for all parents to hear. In addition, and perhaps even more importantly, the announcement has also spurred on the donation of children’s books by some major publishing houses (Scholastic) and policy organizations (Too Small to Fail, Reach Out and Read). People often assume that parents who aren’t regularly reading with their children chose not to do so, but that is rarely the case – these parents generally lack the time, knowledge, and resources to engage in regular reading, and I am really hopeful that this collaborative effort by some big players in reading will help that change. I look forward to talking with other school psychologists about how we can play a role, too!
Finally, for some more answers to questions parents commonly ask, take a look at another blog post I wrote this week with my colleagues. Happy reading!
