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Supporting Literacy Development from Birth to Age 5

Children typically begin to read around age 5 or 6 years old. However, literacy skills do not begin then. Language and literacy skills begin at birth as a child learns to communicate in their new environment. Early communication skills, or language skills, create the foundation for later literacy skills. A child cannot learn to read… Read more »

Attention: Critical Foundation to Build Communication Skills

One of the foundational skills needed for communication development is attention. Attention can be broken down into different categories. The three broad categories that Patten and Watson (2011) categorized attention into are the following: Orienting attention: physically adjusting to a stimulus. Ex: gaze shift or head turn. Sustaining attention: maintaining attention to a stimulus. Shifting… Read more »

Connection Between Spoken Language and Literacy

The experiences with talking and listening gained during the preschool years prepare children to learn to read and write during the early elementary school years. This means that children who enter school with weaker verbal abilities are much more likely to experience difficulties learning literacy skills than those who do not (Roth, Paul, & Pierotti, … Read more »