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How to Help Your Child Be an Early Bird Reader

When children learn to read, they open the door to lifelong joys and opportunities. What's more, recent research suggests that children can—and even should—learn to read much earlier than they are currently being taught. See some inspiring examples and tools in the Your Baby Can Read video.

Why is Earlier Better?

So why should you teach your child to read as early as possible? Experts in the field of early childhood learning agree that learning to read early gives children the best chance for reading success.

In 1998, a national panel of reading specialists and early childhood educators recommended that to improve the quality of reading in the United States, we should teach reading earlier.

In addition, Robert Titzer, Ph.D., an educator and researcher in the field of infant learning, says

Normally, children don't start learning to read until the age of 5 or 6 years. However, waiting until 5 or 6 . . . ignores the "window of opportunity" for learning language which appears to begin closing around the age of 4.

Dr. Titzer believes that infancy is the ideal time to begin teaching your child to read because:

Recent scientific evidence suggests that it is easier for us to learn language during infancy than at any other time in life.
It is easier to learn a higher level of language skills earlier in life than it is later.
Early in life, it is a natural and easy process for us to learn any aspect of language.
Babies and toddlers naturally learn to both understand and speak language by simply listening to language.
When babies and toddlers simultaneously see and hear a language, they are able to learn patterns of written language (phonics) just as naturally and easily.
The current practice of waiting to teach reading until age five or six, when more than 90% of the brain is developed, makes learning to read more difficult because children must learn by rules rather than learning naturally by seeing language and decoding its patterns.
Since we would not consider waiting until age five or six to speak to children, we should not wait until that age to show children written language.

Studies on Early Reading

In further support of early reading, Dr. Titzer cites longitudinal studies that conclude:

Children who are taught to read before age 5 read better than same-IQ, same socio-economic status (SES) children who are taught at age five or six.
Children who were taught to read at age 7 or 8 were even farther behind (even when controlling for IQ and SES).
After eight years, the children who were taught to read at younger ages were still ahead of same-IQ, same-SES children who were taught later.

What to Expect: Infants vs. Toddlers

Of course, infants and toddlers learn the concept of written language at different rates.

Infants: According to Dr. Titzer, infants "need to learn hundreds of words before they will be able to pick up the pattern of the written language." This makes it important to begin acquainting your infant with language as early as possible.

Toddlers: Dr. Titzer says that toddlers "learn the pattern of the spoken language very easily." For instance:

Toddlers learn, simply by listening, to add s to a word to make it plural or ed to make it past tense.
If toddlers learn enough individual words, they may also be able to learn the pattern of the written language.
A toddler may be able to figure out phonics on her own: If she learns to read the words hat and cat and ball and bee, for example, she may figure out the word bat by herself.

Reading to Your Child vs. Teaching Reading

To stress the difference between reading to a child and actually teaching reading, Dr. Titzer cites a recent study in Psychological Science (Nov., 2005) which shows that:

The average preschooler spends about 5 seconds focusing on looking at the words when parents are reading to them.
The rest of the time is spent looking at the pictures.

As a result, the authors of this study concluded that parents should not expect that reading to their children will teach them to read.

In light of this, Dr. Titzer has these suggestions:

Parents should read to their children in two different ways: one to teach reading, and one in which they simply read for a love of reading.
Parents can easily make the typical experience of reading to their child a fun experience of learning to read once their child can read 20-30 words.

What Parents Can Do

So how can parents help their child become an early reader? There are many ways to achieve this:

Use a Multi-Sensory Approach

Through his research, Dr. Titzer has concluded:

Infants and toddlers can learn to read using a multi-sensory approach in which they see written words and hear the words at the same time.
It is more effective when a child does some physical activity related to the words he or she is learning.

What makes this multi-sensory method so successful? Dr. Titzer explains:

According to brain-development theories, this multi-sensory reading approach may help new synapses form among the visual, auditory, and somatosensory areas of the brain.
These more intricate connections may provide a better foundation for future learning while also reaching children with different learning styles such as visual, auditory, and physical.

Make a Learning Video for Your Child

Parents can get the whole family involved and create their own personalized learning video for their infants and toddlers. See inspiring examples and tools of this in the Your Baby Can Read video.
Dr. Titzer recommends the following:

To make full use of the multi-sensory approach, your learning video should allow your child to

see the words you wish your child to learn
hear the words
see images that represent the meaning of the words
if possible, perform a physical action related to the words

Include your family in the video to attract your child's attention and allow her to see and hear you, even when you are away.
When listing words you would like to teach in your video, consider including your child's name and the words mommy and daddy.

Other Stimulating Activities

There are also many everyday ways that you as a parent can stimulate your child to help them on the way to reading earlier. Dr. Titzer suggests these additional activities:

Help your baby to use as many senses as possible while playing.
Read books to your child daily, and be sure to point to each word as you say it.
Print (in large, lowercase letters) some of your child's favorite words from a familiar learning video.
Make up your own enjoyable and stimulating games to play with your child:

word games
imitation games
pattern games: Show your child a pattern such as red cup, blue cup, red cup, blue cup, red cup, etc. As your child develops, he or she will be able to figure out more complicated patterns.

Respond to your baby's interest by talking to her about people and objects at which she is looking.
Try doing activities in front of a mirror to let your infant see himself.
Play classical music regularly.
Massage your baby using a gentle touch.
Help your child learn to categorize animals, laundry, toys, and other things that interest her.
Show your child how to categorize the same things in several different ways: by size, color, material, function, shape, number of legs/wheels, etc.
Count to your child as you do daily activities involving counting, such as setting each place at the table.

Dr. Titzer reminds us, "Better readers are more likely to stay in school and to do well in school. Poorer readers are more likely to drop out of school or do poorly in school." Just as importantly, "Children who know how to read before they enter school have higher self-esteem than other children."

However you choose to enrich your child's understanding of the wonderful world of words, enjoy this exciting time of your child's life, and you'll see the reading skills of your little "early bird" blossom before your eyes!

Special thanks to Robert Titzer, Ph.D., for his contributions to this article.