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Language Development & Communication
Promoting Emergent Literacy
WiseTip: LD-LIT-M0818-I01A

While holding your baby, read a variety of books over and over. Do so when they are interested.

1, 2, 3

  1. New Jersey Birth to Three Early Learning Standards. (2013). New Jersey Council for Young Children.

  2. Fletcher, K. & Reese, E. (2005). Picture book reading with young children: A conceptual framework. Developmental Review. 25. 64-103. 10.1016/j.dr.2004.08.009.

  3. Kupetz, B., & Green, E. (1997). Sharing books with infants and toddlers: Facing the challenge. Young Children, 52(2), 22–27.

8-18 months
Interaction with child
WHY IT MATTERS

Studies have shown that shared reading between the parent and child has been linked to children’s social emotional development.

1
  1. Fletcher, K. & Reese, E. (2005). Picture book reading with young children: A conceptual framework. Developmental Review. 25. 64-103. 10.1016/j.dr.2004.08.009.
Researchers suggest that sharing books effectively with very young children may be used to establish physical closeness and support the development of meaningful social bonds and
secure attachments

Secure Attachment - The infants use the parent as a secure base. When separated, they may or may not cry, but if they do, it is because the parent is absent, and they prefer her to the stranger. When the parent returns, they actively seek contact, and their crying is reduced immediately.1

1. Berk, L. E. (2013). Child development (9th ed.). New Jersey, USA: Pearson Education.

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2
  1. Kupetz, B., & Green, E. (1997). Sharing books with infants and toddlers: Facing the challenge. Young Children, 52(2), 22–27.
 Children who are immersed in rich language experiences that are nurtured by significant adults will identify such experiences (reading as pleasurable) throughout life.
3
  1. Zeece, P. D., & Churchill, S. L. (2001). First Stories: Emergent Literacy in Infants and Toddlers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(2), 101–104.

Children enjoy the sound of their parents’ voice. Repetition in child-directed language (with word stresses and different tones) is helpful for children to pick up new words and expand their vocabulary.

4
  1. Kuhl, P. K. (2000). A new view of language acquisition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 97(22), 11850–11857. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.97.22.11850