Experts agree: Reading must begin early and at home

No one wants to see a child struggle at reading. Parents can help a child avoid reading difficulties, or at least have fewer problems, by starting the reading and conversing in the home early. “I certainly would be always looking for opportunities to expose my youngster to new language and new ideas,” said Timothy Shanahan, immediate past president of the International Reading Association and a professor of urban education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “At age 1, it might be my child and I cooked together and we talked about the cooking words. At another age, we take them to a museum and we talk about the language of that science museum of whatever. It’s not enough to just put the youngster in those experiences. You’ve got to talk about it, use the language and help the youngster learn to use the words. The bigger their vocabulary, the easier to understand new text.” Read more of this article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.