Early Literacy Development

Early Literacy is what children know about reading and writing before they can actually read or write. Children’s early literacy behaviors occur as they engage in reading and writing related tasks at home, in the community, and at school. Developing knowledge of literacy involves learning how to think about language and how it’s used. Deficiency in knowledge not only leads to difficulty in learning to read but also difficulties in acquiring new knowledge. Higher vocabulary development and listening comprehension has been associated with the greater exposure to story book sharing experiences.

In order to help children parents and care givers might need to do the following;

·         Show illustrations of animals, shapes, people, places and things. Read the names with soft and clear pronunciation. Keep repeating and reinforcing those names in everyday life according to the ages and stages of children

·         Sing nursery rhymes with actions. Allow them to see these rhymes with illustrations on TV or Ipad etc.

·         Show real animals, things and places. Allow children to touch and feel so they can use their own senses. Also allow children to talk to people to help them to develop their social skills

·         Read simple stories or tell stories in simple language so it could help children to enhance their imaginative skills

·         Allow them to grip the pencils, draw illustrations and color that will lead them to early writings

·         Understand, encourage and reinforce their signs of their language literacy so it can sustain their motivation and develop their confidence

Children have a great potential and as parents and care givers, we need to understand or learn about children’s millstones, assist and facilitate according to their early literacy needs.