Federal Consumer Information Center Helping Your Child Become a

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Introduction You could say a baby starts on the road to becoming a reader the day she is born. Right away she hears sounds and sees movements. Every time you speak to her, sing to her, and respond to the sounds she makes, you strengthen her interest in language. With you and others there to guide her, she is on her way to becoming a reader. Reading is an important part of language. In fact, you might think of language as a four-legged stool. The four legs are talking, listening, reading, and writing. All four legs are important; each helps support and balance the others. This book tells how you can use all your language skills to build those of your child. It is designed for helping children from infancy to age 6the most important years for learning the skills they will need to become readers. The book offers suggestions on how to talk with your child, read aloud with her, help her learn about printed words and what they mean, show her you value reading, and do other activities at home that encourage reading. The book also tells you how you can prepare your child for school and gives lists of places you can contact for more reading help. But this guide is a starting point only. We hope you and your child will enjoy the activities in it enough to try many more on your own. We all know that older children can do things that younger ones can't. This is true for reading, too. To help show when children can take certain learning steps, this book ties much of the discussion to four age groups: Baby = birth to 1 year Toddler = 1 to 3 years Preschooler = ages 3 and 4 Kindergartner/early first-grader = ages 5 and 6 Keep in mind that children don't all learn at the same pace. And even though they learn new things, they may have "old favorites," books and activities from earlier years that they still enjoy. You are in the best position to decide what activities will work best for your child. As a parent, you are your child's first and most important teacher. And you don't need to be the best reader to help her. Your time and interest and the pleasure you share while reading together are what counts. Children become readers step by step. By the time they are 7, most have begun to read. Some take longer than others, and some need extra help. But with the right kind of help in the early years of life, most of the reading difficulties that might arise later in life can be prevented. This document offers steps you can take to start your little one on her way to becoming a reader. It is an adventure you will not want to miss, and the benefits for your child will last a lifetime. For information about building family reading skills, see Resources. Note: In this document, we refer to a child as "him" in some places and "her" in others. We do this for easier reading. Every point about reading in this book is the same for girls and boys alike.

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