Promoting Pre-Literacy Skills

05/27/2005

Promoting Pre-Literacy Skills

"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do." - Epictetus

Promoting Pre-Literacy Skills

Betty Bardige just published a valuable new book for parents and teachers alike. Drawing on the latest research on development among toddlers and preschoolers, At a Loss for Words: How America is Failing Our Children and What We Can Do About It (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005), lays out the importance of getting parents, policy makers, and child care providers to recognize the role of early literacy skills in reducing the achievement gap that begins before three years of age. Readers are guided through home and classroom settings that promote language, contrasting them with the "merely mediocre" child care settings in which more and more young children spend increasing amounts of time. Too many of our young children are not receiving the level of input and practice that will enable them to acquire language skills — the key to success in school and life. Bardige explains how to build better community support systems for children, and better public education, in order to ensure that toddlers learn the power of language from their families and teachers.

In the book's foreward, T. Berry Brazelton observes:

"This wonderful volume not only points out the importance to each child of a strong language base, but of the emotional background which it represents.... [It] emphasizes the importance of the quality of a child's life outside the home [and] demands that we provide them with the ratio of 3:1 adults in infancy, adults who are paid, trained, and respected. We are investing in our children's future!"

For ordering information, go to: http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1808_reg.html

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.