Reading Aloud

It is no surprise that reading a-loud to your child helps build a solid foundation of language, reading, and writing. However, if you are like me, you may have been surprised to learn how early this can begin. I remember my literacy professor discussing it one day, and I never forgot. I have several memories of grabbing a picture book from our newly hung shelves in the nursery, sitting down in our thrifted rocking chair and reading aloud to my squirmy belly. It felt more awkward than sweet, and I began to wonder how it was beneficial. Until now, I never took the time to find an answer to my question, but I kept my good intentions and read to her often as an infant. It wasn’t until we started establishing a bedtime routine at around 5 or 6 months, that we consistently started reading to her every day.

While browsing the books at Deseret Industries, I came across a book called “Baby Read-Aloud Basics,” by Caroline J. Blakemore and Barbara Weston Ramirez. A quote on the cover by Jim Trelease says, “If I were in charge of American parents, my first law would be that all new parents had to read this book.” I agree with him, this book has invaluable information, I recommend it to everyone. It has been added to the resource page of my website. Most of the information in this post will come from that book, mingled with our personal experiences.

Parentese: Speaking in a melodious tone, articulating clearly, vary and raise pitch, use repetition, exaggerated facial expressions, lengthen vowels, shorter sentences, and longer pauses.

Tip: When reading/talking to baby, make sure to use a parentese voice instead of baby talk. By baby talk, I mean don’t alter the way you say words.

0-3 Months

Stage 1: The listener

There are three main reasons for reading to baby so early. The first is to make your baby feel comfortable and loved. The second is to create a habit of sitting down and reading together. The third is to get dad involved and creating that close bond with baby. As an infant, the first building block of literacy is developing the ability to listen. This begins before baby is even born, he/she will be able to recognize your voice, which can be very calming during the transition after birth. Beginning any new habit can be daunting, but reading or even talking to baby during the first 4 weeks can be done at any time, because there is no difference between the brainwaves of a newborn that is asleep or awake. Around 2-3 months is when you will want to begin reading during their alert times. The most important thing is to create a quiet space to hold and cuddle your baby when you read.

Because baby hasn’t developed great vision yet, you can read whatever you’d like! A great choice might also be any kind of rhymes, like “Mother Goose,” because babies love your melodious voice.

Recommended books for this stage:

- Books with Rhymes

- Books read aloud before baby was born

- Your favorite children’s books

- Board books with black and white patterns

- Any reading matter of interest to you

2-4 Months

Stage 2: The observer

In this stage, baby begins to observe just as much as she listens. She will begin to lock gaze into yours for minutes at a time, which is crucial for baby’s development. It is also enjoyable, as baby usually begins to smile during this time as well. This stage focuses on “dialoguing” with one another using verbal and non-verbal communication. When reading you will be able to notice her excitement by breathing faster or shaking her arms. She will look back and forth between you and the book as she grunts or coos. You may also notice baby mimic your moving mouth. This “dialogue” will promote attachment, and future conversational skills.

Recommended Books for this Stage:

- Wordless picture books

- Rhyming and song books

- Board books with contrasting colors or bold black and white designs

- Soft cloth books

4-8 Months

Stage 3: The Cooer

If a read-aloud routine has been established, you will recognize baby really enjoys reading time. Now baby will be fully engaged in back-and-forth jabber. For Michael and I, this is when we really established read-aloud, and Ramona loved reading time. We would read in a parantese voice, full rhythm and animation (Michael loves doing accents). She enjoyed touch and feel books the most at this stage, and we noticed her attention span was getting longer as she focused more intently. They are listening so closely, and can even recognize their own name now. You can see the growth happening so quickly during this stage, everything baby hears and sees is stored in his brain for later use. Their motor skills are also developing. You’ll notice baby reach for items, pick up objects, and roll around. If your child is anything like ours, they will be sitting and crawling during this stage, and you will be mustering every ounce of self control to keep from pulling your hair out. Amidst the stress and worry, this stage brought a lot of excitement. Every day she was learning something new, and we were always in awe of her.

Recommended Books for this Stage:

-Homemade books with faces of family members and friends or pets

- Mini board books that baby can easily hold and turn the pages

-Rhyming books

-Touch-and-feel books that stimulate senses

8-12 Months

Stage 4: The Babbler

If you have been consistent with read-alouds, this is the stage you will begin to see many benefits from it. I remember Michael grabbing Ramona from her crib one morning to pull her into bed with us, hoping she would doze off. She was restless and kicked her way out. She wondered around our room, checking drawers until she got bored and went back to her own room. A few minutes later I went to check on her and she was sitting in the reading chair flipping through a book. It is a memory I will never forget, because it brought me so much joy to see her sitting there, choosing to read on her own. It is a regular occurrence up to this day.

This is the babbler stage, because it’s when you begin to hear baby say most of the sounds. When they babble they are learning how to distinguish individual sounds in words. This is called phonemic awareness. Kindergartners are tested on this, and it is a strong predictor of reading success. It is also crucial for writing. Being able to hear the sounds in a word and then write down what you hear is what I do with my students nearly every day. So encourage those babbling babies, and keep reading to them!

At this stage, you will also notice what books baby likes to read. They may laugh or giggle at pictures or phrases. Don’t feel pressure to read every word on every page either. You can turn to pictures or pages that baby likes. Ramona loves this book called, “Apple Tree Christmas,” because of the farm animals in the story. Instead of reading each page, we just point to the animals and say their sounds. You can talk your way through pictures in a story, point and label pictures, or make up your own story. It doesn’t matter, as long as baby enjoys it.

Recommended Books for this Stage:

-Books with CD’s and songs that have repetitive choruses, like “Old Mcdonald Had a Farm.”

-Homemade books about baby’s first birthday or other experiences.

-Rhyming books

-Books about daily experiences

12-18 Months

Stage 5: The Word Maker

By the end of this stage, baby has the ability to say 50 or more words. Many of them will be from favorite read-aloud books. If your child can’t repeat each word in a passage, he will be able to imitate the correct intonation. Before Ramona turned 18 months, she babbled all the time, but we rarely heard real words. We read to her every day, and did our best to talk our way through daily tasks, like doing the dishes. I tried not to worry too much, but I thought she would be talking a lot more. It was a good reminder for me that all children develop at different rates, even if you are trying to do good things like read-aloud. The past 4 weeks she has started to catch on, and is saying so many new words. We are thrilled!

This is a great stage to find books that are labeled. We have a farm animal book with flaps that Ramona loves to look through. We point to the animals and say their sounds. Just choose a book that sparks your babies interest.

Recommended Books for this Stage:

- Rhyme and song books that can be accompanied by hand movements, like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” or “I’m a Little Teapot”

- Books that reflect your baby’s experiences

- Books that label objects, toys, and parts of the body

- Books illustrating action words, such as children running jumping or sliding

18-24 months

Stage 6: The Phrase Maker

Your toddler now understands most of your conversations and language. He can point and say the names of many things. One way to make your child feel included and loved is to encourage talk through asking questions. Research shows that parents, who promote dialogue through questions, raise children who talk more, and talk earlier. We are in the phase of lots and yes and no responses to questions. I am excited to see Ramona’s language expand even more over the next few months. By the time your toddler turns two, they will have read hundreds of books with many words. This creates innumerable brain connections that create good language and problem-solving skills, which are crucial for future reading and writing abilities.

When your child mispronounces a word, don’t panic. Many sounds are developmentally inappropriate for them to make early on. For example, “r” and “l” are difficult to enunciate and will eventually be pronounced correctly by age six. If your child does pronounce a word incorrectly, just repeat what your child said naturally in conversation, say the sounds correctly, and leave it at that.

Developmental Sound Chart:

Sounds produced the first 2 years

p m h n w b

Sounds that may not sound adult-like until 3-6

r l

Sounds that don’t emerge until 2-4

k g d t f y

Sounds that appear between 3.5 and 8 years

ch s h z j v

We have just entered this stage, but Ramona is making words still. She is grasping the concepts of print and can turn a book right side up if we give it to her upside down. She has become particular about many things and books are one of them. She often hands us the books she would like us to read to her. We are happy to give her that choice! I also have a basket of board books in the nursery that are available to her. She learned a while ago that she can climb on the reading chair by the bookshelf and pull the nicer books down. We tried moving the chair farther away, but she cleverly pushes it back. Thankfully, she has been careful and doesn’t rip the pages out; my main concern is her new love for writing in and on everything. We will keep playing that one by ear.

Recommended Books for this Stage:

- Books with complex pictures that you can talk about

- Books that your toddler is interested in

- Rhyme and Song books

- Books about feelings

- Poetic books

- Number, color, and vocabulary concept books

- Books with interesting language a little beyond your toddlers conversational language

Taking the time to read-aloud has been good for us. I hope it is for you too!