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Reading Aloud Develops the Brain
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| Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 | | CWK Producer |
“The kids love it. They LOVE it. It’s a captured audience.”
– Julie Corsini, a mother
Every night, before they go to bed, 2-year-old Emilie and 5-year-old Michael pick out a few books for story time. They're excited to get started, but story time is quiet time, so parents may wonder if their children really listen.
“You know, I used to think that Michael would fall asleep when I would read him a book, but he never has. It’s always start to finish,” says Julie Corsini, the children’s mother.
In fact, kids lean a great deal while their parents read aloud. Images from inside a child’s brain as they hear their parents read aloud clearly show that brain activity exists. Listening to a story is not a passive experience. While kids listen and think, the wiring of their brain changes, speeding up their ability to master language.
“And certainly, there is some indication that even well into the elementary school years – fourth, fifth grade – children who had had a lot of book reading when they were younger are still doing better in language skills and in book reading,” says Dr. Robyn Fivush, a developmental psychologist and professor at Emory University.
Decoding language is the most difficult task of childhood, and experts say reading aloud is a powerful way to help them break that code.
“Whether it’s just an alphabet book or a rhyming book or a real story book or whatever … I think at least once a day you want to sit down with your child with a book and engage in some sort of reading activity,” Fivush says.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, parents should start reading to their children as early as 6 months – even before they start talking.
What We Need To Know
Breakthroughs in technology, specifically brain “scanning” technology, have shown that environmental factors play a much larger role in children’s brain development than experts previously thought. When babies are born, they have all of the neurons or brain cells they will ever have but lack the connections or wiring between the neurons. Research shows that the experiences a child has during the first three years of life have a major impact on how the child’s brain is wired. The American Library Association (ALA) says every nursery rhyme reading or peek-a-boo game helps form and strengthen thousands of connections among the brain, connections that are not easily formed later in life.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) “strongly recommends” that parents read to their children daily beginning by 6 months of age. According to the AAP, “Reading aloud to children helps stimulate brain development, yet only 50% of infants and toddlers are routinely read to by their parents. … Reading with your child not only stimulates development of your child’s brain, but it also fuels a close emotional relationship between you and your child.”
Facts about Brain Development
The ALA cites these facts about reading and brain development in children:
- Brain development begins soon after conception.
- At birth, a child has 100 billion brain cells (neurons) and 50 trillion connections (synapses).
- Early childhood experiences exert a dramatic impact and physically determine how the brain is “wired.”
- In the first months of life, the number of synapses increases 20 times to more than 1,000 trillion synapses.
- Early sensory experiences create new synapses, and repetition of experiences strengthens them.
- As growth continues, a single neuron can connect with as many as 15,000 other neurons.
- A 3-year-old child has twice as many connections as an adult.
- Those synapses that aren’t used wither away in a process called pruning.
- At about age 10, the brain begins to dramatically prune extra connections and bring order to the tangled circuitry of the brain.
- While new synapses grow throughout life, adults continue to learn but do not master new skills as quickly or rebound from setbacks as easily.
What Parents Can Do
How can parents help stimulate brain development? The answer is simple: Read aloud to your child. The American Academy of Pediatrics offers these suggestions:
- Read aloud to a young baby for only a few minutes at a time. Read a little longer as your older baby or toddler is willing to listen.
- Point to images in picture books and name them. As your child learns to talk, ask him or her to “point and say.”
- Set aside at least one regularly scheduled time each day for reading. Make it part of your toddler’s routine. Also take toddlers to the library or bookstore for story hour.
- Recite nursery rhymes and sing songs. Rhymes help develop a young child’s ear for language.
What is the best way to read to your young child? The ALA offers these tips for sharing books:
- Find a comfortable place to sit – a rocking chair makes a great spot.
- Turn off other distractions – television set, radio or stereo.
- Hold the book so that your child can see the pages clearly.
- Involve your child by having him or her point out images.
- Talk about the pictures, or repeat common words.
- Read with expression.
- Vary the pace of your reading – slow or fast.
- Have your child select books to read.
- Reread your child’s favorite books whenever asked.
Resources
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- American Library Association
