• The brain of a three-year-old is two and a half times more active than that of an adult. • Brain development is contingent on a complex interplay between genes and the environment. • Experiences wire the brain.
• Repetition strengthens the wiring. • Brain development is nonlinear. • Early relationships affect wiring.
Again, the “windows of opportunity” suggest especially fertile times when the developing brain is most susceptible to environmental input and most able to “wire skills at an optimal level.” Increasingly, we understand that an early, frequent exposure to print has benefits that last a lifetime, including academic success and the prevention of reading challenges later in a child’s life (Dickinson, McCabe, and Essex, 2006; Phillips, Norris, and Anderson, 2008). The Mol and Bus (2011) comprehensive meta-analysis of print exposure lends scientific support for the widespread belief that a deep engagement with books and repeated exposure to print have a “long-lasting impact on academic success.” Mol and Bus explain: Reading development starts before formal instruction, with book sharing as one of the facets of a stimulating home literacy environment. Books provide a meaningful context for learning to read, not only as a way of stimulating reading comprehension but also as a means of developing technical reading skills even in early childhood. In pre- conventional readers, we found that print exposure was associatedmoderately with oral language and basic knowledge about reading. Reading books remained important for children in school who were conventional readers… Reading routines, which are part of the child’s leisure time activities, offer substantial advantages for oral language growth. Interestingly, independent reading of books also enables readers to store specific words from knowledge and become better spellers. Finally, college and university students who read for pleasure may also be more successful academically. How Literacy Develops and Predicts Later Academic Success In 2008, the National Institute of Literacy issued a report, Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel , and, among its many findings, stated that the foundational reading and writing skills that develop from birth to age five have a clear and consistently strong relationship with later conventional literacy skills. Our understanding of the power of early immersion in literacy has only grown. The state of Michigan—guided by Nell Duke’s early literacy research (2016)—recommends 10 essential literacy practices that prekindergarten children should experience every day. These include: 1. Intentional use of literacy artifacts in dramatic play throughout the classroom. Reading and writingmaterials are not only present but used throughout the classroom environment. 2. Read-aloud with reference to print. Daily read-alouds include verbal and nonverbal strategies for drawing children’s attention to print.
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CHAPTER 1: READERS
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