Decrease in Father Involvement in Children’s Reading

Source: Sean McCabe for The Wall Street Journal

It is no secret that parent involvement in early childhood education can be a pivotal factor in a child’s academic success, especially early literacy. In fact, research shows that children’s reading achievement, vocabulary, and comprehension skills improve when their parents read to them.

While the benefits of reading together and modeling the joys of reading may be common knowledge in early literacy circles, a new study published by the UK’s National Literacy Trust shows a widening gap between the reading habits of mothers versus fathers. The National Literacy Trust surveyed 21,000 8- to 16-year-olds from nearly 130 schools in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. One of the revealing trends indicates that fathers’ involvement in reading and literacy is significantly less than mothers and continues to decline.

Highlights of the National Literacy Trust survey Continue reading “Decrease in Father Involvement in Children’s Reading”

National Parents as Teachers Conference

We partner with a lot of experts to create and support our standards-based early literacy curriculum, ABC Music & Me, including experienced early literacy educators, trainers, researchers and professional musicians and music producers who understand how music can unlock a child’s potential. However, we also recognize the pivotal role of parent involvement in early childhood education, which is why all of our programs, including our early literacy curriculum, include a child’s first and best teacher: the parent.

Parents as Teachers and early literacy

The organization, Parents as Teachers (PAT), shares our commitment to equip parents with the tools and resources to help provide young children with school readiness skills, including early literacy. PAT organizations around the United States use our early literacy curriculum, ABC Music & Me, to increase parent involvement in early childhood education. For example, the Choctaw Nation Support for Pregnant and Parenting Teens is a PAT program that uses ABC Music & Me in its group connection meetings with parents and children.  The Tulsa Public Schools Parents as Teachers even received the coveted PAT Losos Prize for Excellence in 2010 in part for being the first in Oklahoma to use our early literacy curriculum, ABC Music & Me, to increase parent involvement in early childhood education.

National Parents as Teachers Conference

To learn more about how Parents as Teachers programs use our early literacy curriculum, stop by the ABC Music & Me booth at the National PAT Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, November 7-9. The first 100 people to visit Booth #2 will even receive a special surprise!

Not able to attend? Email us at info@abcmusicandme.com for more information about using ABC Music & Me.

Singing to young children supports early language development

Singing a song or two (or 50!) a day to even the youngest child can help early language development. Hearing a parent or teacher sing a song requires a child to listen for the individual notes combined with their rhythmic values. In much the same way, early language development requires children to hear speech sounds and begin to divide them into individual sounds or phonemes.

Sally Goddard Blythe reiterates the importance of singing to young children for early language development in her book, The Genius of Natural Childhood. In an article published in The Guardian, Blythe said: “Song is a special type of speech. Lullabies, songs and rhymes of every culture carry the ‘signature’ melodies and inflections of a mother tongue, preparing a child’s ear, voice and brain for language.” In the same article, Blythe contends that singing to young children can help ward off later language development problems.

She goes on to say that “Children’s response to live music is different from recorded music. Babies are particularly responsive when the music comes directly from the parent. Singing along with a parent is for the development of reciprocal communication.”

You can read the entire article: Singing to Children May Help Development of Language Skills

Music classes support early language development

With more than 30 years of experience in using music as the vehicle for learning, we understand how to tap into the power of music to connect with children, families, and teachers around the world. In private studios, public schools, childcare centers, and at home, children, parents, and teachers enjoy participating in our fun, developmentally appropriate and research-based music education programs that support early language development, early literacy development, parent involvement in early childhood education, and more.

If you are a parent looking for a music class for toddlers, babies, or big kids at a local Kindermusik studio, try our Class Finder.

If you are a childcare center or school looking to increase your students’ early language and literacy skills using music, email us at info@abcmusicandme.com.