Stages of early literacy development

The 5 Stages for Developing Literacy

Teaching Tips

June 17, 2021

4 min

Literacy development is the process of learning words, sounds, and language. Children develop literacy skills in order to learn to read and write confidently and eventually improve their communication skills overall. The stages of literacy development that a child goes through can vary depending on the child’s comprehension levels but generally include the same key concepts along the way. Understanding literacy development in children as an educator is key for helping children master these core skills that set them up for their education. With an understanding of literacy development and how to address each of the stages of literacy development, both educators and students alike will be set up for success in the classroom.

Why is Literacy Development Important?

As the pillars of language and reading skills, literacy development is a crucial time in a child’s life. Educators need to understand why literacy development is so important in order to effectively help children within each stage of their early literacy development.

Here are just a few reasons early literacy development is important:

Children with confident reading abilities typically struggle less with their studies and have a confident approach to their education.
Strong literacy skills translate well into independent learning and encourage consistent growth in and out of the classroom.
Literacy development affects the way students communicate and problem solve. Those with strong literacy skills usually have improved cognitive ability.

The Five Stages of Literacy Development

As a child grows older and demonstrates the key stages of literacy development they will improve their reading and writing ability. The five stages of literacy development include emergent literacy, alphabetic fluency, words and patterns, intermediate reading, and advanced reading. Each stage of literacy development helps the child move forward and become a stronger student. Keep in mind that a child's current age group doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re at that step in their early literacy development.

Stage 1: Emergent Literacy

Age Range: 4-6 years old.

As the earliest stage of literacy development, emergent literacy is the first moment that a child begins to understand letters and words. While many of the behaviors of the emergent literacy stage are not fully formed and irregular, these are still some of the first signs that a child is beginning to form literacy ability.

Here are Some Behaviors of Stage 1 Learners:

Pretending to be able to read children’s books.
The ability to recognize the first letter of their name.
Singing the ABCs, even if unable to identify letters separately.
Trying to memorize certain books to “read” them.
The ability to recognize some letters and potentially their sound.
The ability to find words in their environment.

To learn helpful strategies to support emerging readers by helping them understand what alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness are and why they are both so critically important watch this free webinar, 5 Essential Strategies to Effectively Teach Letters and Sounds.

Stage 2: Alphabetic Fluency

Age Range: 6-7 years old.

As the child grows older and more comfortable with learning their words and letters, they enter the alphabetic fluency stage of literacy development.

Here are Some Behaviors of Stage 2 Learners:

No longer “pretend” reading.
Finger-pointing to words while reading them.
Beginning to recognize words.
Admitting that they’re unable to read certain words.
Using pictures and context clues to figure out certain words.
Reading out loud word by word.

Stage 3: Words and Patterns

Age Range: 7-9 years old.

Sometimes referred to as the “transitional” stage of literacy development, the words and patterns stage is when children begin to develop stronger reading skills. This is the stage when children can vary the most in terms of skills and may adopt behaviors in multiple stages of literacy development.

Here are Some Behaviors of Stage 3 Learners:

Less decoding of words and stronger ability to comprehend reading materials.
More self-correction when what is read is unclear.
Less sound by sound reading and easier time grouping letters.
Able to recognize words that pop up most often automatically.
Less reliance on context clues to figure out unknown words.
Beginning to be able to spell complex consonant words like “-tch”.

Stage 4: Intermediate Reading

Age Range: 9-11 years old.

During the intermediate stage of literacy development, children begin to rely less on educational crutches that help a child learn new words. This is also when children are becoming able to write out sentences with less error and develop stronger fluency overall.

Here are Some Behaviors of Stage 4 Learners:

Reading to learn new information and writing for multiple purposes.
Less difficulty with independent reading.
Reading to explore new concepts from numerous perspectives.
Reading longer materials such as textbooks with little difficulty.
An interest in wanting to learn and develop new vocabulary.

Stage 5: Advanced Reading

Age Range: 11-14 years old.

As the last stage of literacy development, advanced reading is when children become fully fluent and capable of relying on independent reading to learn new information. Reading and writing provide little difficulty and students can absorb complex reading materials during this stage.

Here are Some Behaviors of Stage 5 Learners:

The desire to read numerous types of reading materials.
Reading becomes a daily tool for learning new information.
The ability to formulate longer texts such as essays or book reports.
Readers usually have a strong understanding of the meaning and semantics of words.
The ability to understand and retain complex reading materials.

Develop Early Literacy with Learning Without Tears!

Each stage of literacy development provides its own unique challenges and triumphs in learning to become confident in reading and writing. Learning Without Tears specializes in early childhood development programs that help further progress within the stages of literacy development. Learning Without Tears offers a wide range of educational materials to help teachers create an engaging lesson plan that will get children excited to learn more. With resources for parents to get children set up for school and programs for teachers to teach early literacy concepts, Learning Without Tears is committed to helping children become confident students. Learning Without Tears has created resources and educational materials for children in pre-k to 5th grade to help students succeed during every stage of literacy development and early childhood education. Explore Learning Without Tears to help children get the most out of their education today.

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Literacy Development in Children | Maryville Online

Tables of Contents

What Is Literacy Development?
Language and Literacy Development in Children
5 Literacy Development Stages
Literacy Development in Early Childhood
Early Literacy Development Stages in Children

The benefits of physical activity for a person’s health and longevity are well documented. However, not everyone is aware of the many health benefits of the most common form of mental exercise: reading.

Reading stimulates brain development in children and adults and promotes social and emotional skills that contribute to healthy lifestyles.
Reading reduces stress and symptoms of depression; it lowers readers’ blood pressure and pulse rate, and it reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and late-life cognitive decline.
Reading fiction enhances emotional intelligence by teaching how to perceive and understand other people’s feelings; it also improves memory and the ability to concentrate.

For children, literacy development provides benefits that begin immediately and last a lifetime.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) found that instructing parents on the benefits of reading aloud to their children and providing an age-appropriate and a culturally appropriate book to a child at each health supervision visit from birth to 5 years improves the child’s language development and home environment. The improvement was greatest among children at socioeconomic risk.
Research published in the journal Pediatrics links language exposure in children ages 12 months to 24 months to higher language skills and IQ scores through age 14.
A study reported in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics determined that children who are read to regularly in their first five years of life are exposed to 1.4 million more words than children who are never read to.

The importance of early literacy development to a child’s success in school and life can’t be understated. Even though the literacy rate in the U.S. is 99%, researchers estimate that 43 million U.S. adults have low literacy skills that impair their cognitive abilities. Introducing children to books and reading from their first months of life prepares them to succeed in school while also strengthening family bonds and promoting children’s health and well-being for a lifetime.

Crayons, Pencils, and Keyboards; Martin-Pitt Partnership for Children; and Nationwide Children’s Hospital report these benefits of language and literacy: They build confidence and self-esteem, encourage independent learning, enhance cognitive ability, strengthen brain function, improve attention span, and enrich communication skills.

What Is Literacy Development?

Literacy development is the process of learning words, sounds, and language. The acquisition of early literacy skills begins in a child’s first year, when infants begin to discriminate, encode, and manipulate the sound structures of language, an ability called phonological awareness.

Before their first birthday, children begin to store phonemes, or basic units of meaning in a language, in their memory.
In subsequent years, they learn how to manipulate and combine phonemes into meaningful language units by applying morphology (words) and syntax (grammar).
They’re able to retrieve and produce words in ways that express ideas, and they can coordinate visual and motor processes (speaking written words).

It’s important to assess a child’s language skills at an early age, because delays in literacy development could indicate a language or reading disorder. Research has shown that languages with consistent sound-to-letter correspondences, or orthographic consistency, are easier for children to learn.

Languages with regular orthographies, such as Spanish and Czech, tend to be easier for young children to learn than languages with inconsistent orthographies, such as English, Danish, and French.
Primary school children acquiring languages with opaque orthographies tend to make more errors than children learning a language with transparent orthographies.
A language’s orthographic transparency affects the ability to diagnose dyslexia, for example: In languages with transparent orthographies, the inability to quickly retrieve and produce words, or rapid automatic naming, is more predictive of dyslexia than in languages with opaque orthographies, in which lack of phonological awareness is a better indicator of potential dyslexia.

Encouraging Communication and Reading Skills

Reading-related activities in the child’s home are key to early literacy development. These activities include joint reading, drawing, singing, storytelling, game playing, and rhyming.

Joint reading entails children and their parents or caregivers taking turns reading parts of the book. The children are asked to describe what they’re thinking as they read.
Drawing not only helps develop a child’s motor skills but also encourages creative thinking and lays the foundation for early writing. It also helps children gain cognitive understanding of complex concepts and builds their attention span.
Singing makes it easier for children to identify small sounds in words and build their vocabulary. A song’s rhyme structure teaches similarities between words, and singing helps develop a child’s listening skills.
Storytelling sparks a child’s imagination in addition to teaching sounds, words, and grammar. Children learn to focus and concentrate while also picking up social and communication skills.
Game playing presents an opportunity for children to learn language and reading skills while engaged in favorite activities, such as using props and objects to act out scenarios, role-playing, and imagining new experiences.
Rhyming is both enjoyable and memorable for young children while also teaching phonemic awareness and fluency in reading and speaking. In addition to helping children learn the fundamental patterns in language, rhyming helps build their confidence and instills in them a joy of reading.

Using Childhood Literacy to Treat Communication Disorders

While nearly all children experience problems with a few language sounds, words, or syntax, some children struggle to reach literacy milestones that are common for their age group. These are among the language problems that young children may encounter:

Receptive language, or understanding what others are saying. This may be due to a problem hearing or an inability to understand the meaning of words.
Expressive language, or using language to communicate thoughts. The child may not possess sufficient vocabulary to express themselves, not understand how to put the words together, or may know the words but not how to use them correctly.
Speech disorders include difficulty forming specific sounds and words or problems speaking smoothly, such as stuttering.
Language delay occurs when the child takes longer than usual to comprehend language and speak.
Language disorders include aphasia (difficulty speaking and understanding due to a brain injury or atypical brain function) and auditory processing disorder (problems in comprehending the sounds the ear sends to the brain).

Some language development problems relate to hearing loss, so children experiencing language problems should have their hearing checked. Speech language pathologists are able to help children overcome language learning difficulties; they also help parents, caregivers, and teachers overcome language learning difficulties in children. Children under the age of 3 who appear to have problems with literacy development may qualify for state early intervention programs that help them develop cognitive, communication, and other skills.

Language and Literacy Development in Children

How children develop language skills and become literate are two separate but closely related processes:

Language development occurs as the child’s ability to understand and use language emerges. Receptive language skills are the ability to listen and understand, while expressive language skills relate to the child’s use of language to communicate ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
Emerging literacy is the child’s initial use of language and communication skills as the foundation for reading and writing. Infants and toddlers begin to apply their new receptive, expressive, and vocabulary skills, while preschoolers begin to distinguish the differences and similarities of spoken and written language.

These are the components of language and literacy development programs for young children:

At this stage, the child focuses on communication and language from others, understanding, and responding. The four aspects of attending and understanding are know, see, do, and improve:

Know: For infants and toddlers, the parents or caregivers respond to their verbal and nonverbal communication with words and facial expressions to establish a back-and-forth exchange. Toddlers are encouraged to respond to questions and short comments. For preschool children, communication expands from simple words and short phrases to more complex words and sentences.
See: For infants and toddlers, the caregivers describe what they’re doing and what the infants or toddlers are doing and observe their response to indicate whether the infants or toddlers understand. For preschool children, the caregivers describe what’s going to happen and give the children an opportunity to communicate and respond.
Do: For infants and toddlers, the caregivers narrate what’s happening during an activity and give the children an opportunity to participate, focusing on the things that draw the children’s attention. For preschool children, the caregivers engage them in a conversation about what’s happening and help them pick up the cues of a give-and-take exchange, such as waiting for their turn to speak.
Improve: For infants and toddlers, the caregivers individualize the responses to their verbal and nonverbal communication and react using facial expressions, gestures, signs, and words when the children indicate that they understand. For preschool children, the caregivers initiate conversations with them and let them know they’re valued conversation partners. The children are encouraged to strike up conversations with other children.

Communicating and Speaking

Early communication efforts by infants and toddlers focus on what the child wants or needs through facial expressions, gestures, and verbalization. The child engages with others using increasingly complex language and initiates interactions with others verbally and nonverbally to learn and gain information. Preschoolers learn to vary the amount of information they communicate as dictated by the situation. They begin to understand, follow, and comply with the rules of conversation and social interaction.

Vocabulary

Through their interactions with others, infants and toddlers learn new words and begin to use them to communicate and respond. The parent or caregiver shows an object or action and repeats its name, and also demonstrates words that express feelings and desires. Preschool children learn how to use a wider range of words in various settings and with shades of meaning in specific situations. They also begin to categorize words and understand relationships between words. When engaging children in conversation, the person takes every opportunity to introduce new words to the child that relate to the topic and setting.

Emergent Literacy

The earliest stages of literacy for infants and toddlers is their repetition and use of rhymes, phrases, and song refrains. They begin to physically handle books and understand that they’re the source of stories and information. Children start to recognize pictures, symbols, signs, and basic words; understand what pictures and stories mean; and make marks that represent objects and actions.

Phonological Awareness

Preschoolers begin to understand that language is composed of discrete sound elements that have their own meaning. Singing songs, playing word games, and reading stories and poetry aloud help make children aware of phonological distinctions in the words, phrases, and sentences they’re using. Through wordplay, such as being called by name with the separate sounds of the name highlighted, children become aware of the individual sounds that make up words.

Print and Alphabet Knowledge

Preschoolers begin to show that they understand how printing is used and the rules that apply to print. They can identify individual letters and associate the correct sounds to the letters. The parent or caregiver can draw attention to the features of printed letters and show children different print types, such as those used in menus, brochures, and magazines. The person can emphasize the relationship between letters and sounds. Reading alphabet books together helps children connect a letter with words that use the letter and pictures of the objects.

Comprehension and Text Structure

By hearing and reading stories, preschoolers begin to comprehend the narrative structure of storytelling and start to ask questions about and comment on the stories. Children are introduced to stories by reading aloud together, and after several rereadings, they’re able to recall its plot, characters, and events. They’re also able to retell the story using puppets and other props related to the book, as well as through their own illustrations and writing.

Writing

Preschoolers can be introduced to writing as a way to describe in their own words a story or an event, such as preparing a shopping list before going to the grocery store. They can also be asked to write captions for pictures and photographs. Children can be taught the proper spacing of words by writing each word of a sentence on a separate piece of paper. Drawing helps children develop the motor skills required for writing; in place of a pencil or crayon, they can be encouraged to write using their finger or a stick to write in sand or dirt.

According to The Edvocate, This Reading Mama, and UpToDate, readers should be able to complete the following tasks at each literacy development stage. Emergent literacy: sing the ABCs; alphabetic fluency: see the relationships between letters and sounds; words and patterns: read silently without vocalizing; intermediate reading: read to acquire ideas and gain knowledge; and advanced reading: comprehend longer texts such as books.

5 Literacy Development Stages

Early literacy typically occurs in a child’s first three years, when the child is introduced to books, stories, and writing tools (paper, pencils, etc. ). Children learn language, reading, and writing skills simultaneously, in part through their experiences and interactions with others. Parents and caregivers can encourage early literacy development stages through various activities:

Read to children beginning in earliest infancy.
Let them handle books.
Help them identify and interact with images in books.
Narrate and imitate the actions in the pictures.
Spend as much time as possible talking to infants.

The goal of early literacy efforts isn’t to teach children to read at a very young age but rather to prepare them for each stage of literacy development, from earliest image recognition through reading fluency at ages 11 to 14. The five stages of literacy development are emergent literacy, alphabetic fluency, words and patterns, intermediate reading, and advanced reading.

1. Emergent Literacy

The initial stage of literacy development sees children acquire literacy skills in informal settings before their formal schooling begins. This preliterate phase lasts until children are 5 or 6 years old and is characterized by specific pre-reading behaviors:

Pretending to read books that others have read to them
Holding books correctly and playing with them
A growing interest in pencils, paper, crayons, and other material related to reading and writing
Speaking or chanting letters even though they may not yet recognize them
Scribbling make-believe letters or pretending to write

At later ages in this stage, children may recognize and be able to write the letters in their names, distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters, and identify an increasing number of high-frequency words.

2. Alphabetic Fluency

At this novice reader stage, children between the ages of 5 and 8 begin to recognize relationships between letters and sounds. These activities are typically observed during this phase of literacy development:

Recognizing and pronouncing words they see in print
Writing phonetically
Using pictures and other context clues to identify unfamiliar words
Pointing at words as they read them out loud
Occasionally reversing letters when they write them

3.

Words and Patterns

During this transitional stage that occurs from ages 7 to 9, children’s reading fluency improves, and children begin to recognize syllables and phonemes rather than simply individual letters. Children in this decoding reader phase have reading vocabularies of up to 3,000 words. Behaviors in this stage include the following:

Reading without assistance
Much improved reading comprehension
Silent reading without vocalizing
Greater recognition of high-frequency words
Reduced reliance on context clues to figure out the meaning of new words

4. Intermediate Reading

By ages 9 to 15, children begin to acquire ideas from what they’re reading. Their reading material includes textbooks, dictionaries and other reference works, newspapers, magazines, and trade books. At this stage of literacy development, a child’s reading comprehension becomes equivalent to listening comprehension. These are some of the experiences of readers at this phase:

Gaining new knowledge
Experiencing new feelings through the stories they read
Exploring issues from various perspectives
Developing strategies for learning the meaning of unfamiliar words
Reading at a faster pace

5.

Advanced Reading

At the last stage of literacy development, readers can comprehend long and complex text without assistance. They’re also able to find on their own books and other printed material that’s relevant to a specific topic. Characteristics of readers at this stage include the following:

Reading for many different purposes and to expand their own interests
Seeking different perspectives and points of view and understanding that what they read can influence their opinions
Gaining a deeper understanding of the subtext of what they read, or reading between the lines to grasp the wider context of the material
Expanding their vocabulary and knowledge of subjects through reading recommendations or their own selection of material

Literacy Development in Early Childhood

Literacy development in early childhood entails helping children build language skills, including their vocabulary, ability to express themselves, and reading comprehension. Learning to read is a complex process that children master at their own pace, so it’s natural for some children to proceed more slowly than others.

Skills Needed for Reading Comprehension

The many individual skills required for reading comprehension can be divided into seven broad categories: decoding, fluency, vocabulary, sentence structure, sentence cohesion, background knowledge, and working memory and attention.

The skills that make up reading comprehension, according to Reading Rockets and Understood: 1. Decoding — Sound out words. 2. Fluency — Recognize words by sight. 3. Vocabulary — Become familiar with a collection of words. 4. Sentence structure — Understand how words build sentences. 5. Sentence cohesion — Understand how words connect ideas. 6. World experience — Relate to what’s being read. 7. Working memory — Take in information from text.

Decoding: Children learn the meaning of words by sounding out words they’ve heard before but haven’t seen in writing. Decoding requires phonemic awareness, or knowledge of the basic building blocks of meaning in a language. This is part of broader phonological awareness, which allows children to associate specific sounds with their written representation.
Fluency: Once children can recognize words immediately as they read, they’re able to comprehend what they’re reading much faster. Children learn irregular words that they can’t sound out, such as “of” and “the.” Fluency improves comprehension by allowing readers to consider groups of words together to get a better sense of their meaning.
Vocabulary: While children learn some of their vocabulary through direct instruction, they learn most new words by reading on their own and from their everyday experiences. Among the creative ways to introduce children to new words are through using them in conversations with children, telling jokes, and playing word games.
Sentence structure and cohesion: Reading comprehension depends on a child’s understanding of how phrases and sentences are constructed. Sentence cohesion is the ability to connect the ideas expressed in a sentence and between sentences, while coherence describes how the ideas in a sentence link to the overall theme of the book or material being read.
Experience, reasoning, and background knowledge: Children and adults bring their own knowledge and experience to the material they’re reading, so they can place the information in a broader context and more closely relate to the subject. Gaining the ability to reason about what they’re reading is helped by giving the child greater exposure to the world through hands-on experiences, conversations, art, and reading itself.
Working memory and attention: Working memory and attention are considered part of a child’s executive function, which is required to complete complex tasks. This includes organizing and planning, staying focused, and tracking their own progress. Working memory lets children retain and reuse information as well as identify the words they don’t understand. Maintaining attention as they read bolsters comprehension and lets children read at a faster pace.

Activities That Stimulate Reading Comprehension

The best way to prepare children for a lifetime of reading enjoyment is to surround them with words from infancy through their teen years. Everyday activities, such as eating meals, going to the store, taking a bath, and playing outside are excellent opportunities to build a child’s vocabulary and other literacy skills. These literacy activities are suitable for infants and toddlers, as well as for pre-K and school-age children.

Talking to and singing with young children: Rhyming is a great way to catch and maintain a young child’s interest, whether by reciting nursery rhymes or making up rhymes in everyday conversations. Repeat the sounds that the child makes, or ask children to repeat the sounds they hear. Narrate your walks or car trips, and ask the child to repeat the sounds of the objects seen.
Reading actively: While reading together, emphasize the rhyming words, and make up rhymes for the words the child encounters. Let the child turn the book’s pages and ask the child to comment on the images on the page. Stop on occasion while reading to ask the child what will happen next. Ask the child to act out the story, and tie what’s happening with events in the child’s own life.
Scribbling and drawing: Scribbling and drawing help children develop the motor skills they need for writing. They also help children understand that certain writing and pictures have specific meanings. Ask children to add a scribble or drawing to cards and letters or to describe what they’ve drawn, writing down the words they use so that they can connect writing with the sound of words.
Making a storybook or alphabet book: Using a computer or paper and pencils, help children create a story using their own drawings and words. A simple example is an alphabet book with each letter on one side of a page and a drawing of an item that begins with that letter on the opposite side of the page.

Resources: Literacy Development in Early Childhood

Scholastic, 6 Strategies to Improve Reading Comprehension — Strategies include asking children to read aloud, rereading simple and familiar books to gain fluency, and talking to the children about what they’re reading.
S. Department of Education, Early Learning Resources — Resources include language building tips for parents, guides for preschool teachers and child care providers, and early childhood literacy assessment techniques.
Raising Readers, How to Get Your Child Ready to Read — Tip sheets for parents and families in several languages, along with downloadable handouts that teach a different aspect of literacy for each month of the year.

Early Literacy Development Stages in Children

While researchers in early literacy development agree that it’s a step-by-step process, they define the steps in different ways. Generally, the path a child takes from earliest awareness of print and reading to independent, competent reader and writer is completed in five stages:

Awareness and Exploration Stage

Between the ages of 6 months and 6 years old, children hear and experiment with reproducing and creating a range of monosyllabic and polysyllabic sounds, ultimately forming words that represent discrete things and concepts. Their introduction to reading is typically through listening to and discussing storybooks, participating in rhyming activities, and beginning to identify letters.

Novice Reading and Writing Stage

At ages 6 and 7, children match letters with sounds and connect printed and spoken words. They can tell simple stories, and understand the orientation of printed words on a page. They’re also able to read and write individual letters and high-frequency words and sound out new monosyllabic words that they encounter.

Traditional Reading and Writing Stage

When they’re between the ages of 7 and 9, children gain fluency in reading familiar stories, increasing their enjoyment. They’re able to decode elements of words and sentences while building their vocabulary of words they recognize on sight. Their reading skills allow them to process new information, and they have a better grasp of the meaning of the material they read.

Fluent and Comprehending Reading and Writing Stage

Between the ages of 9 and 15, children are able to understand what they’re reading from multiple perspectives and learn new ideas and concepts. Their reading expands to reference books, textbooks, and various media, in which they’re exposed to a range of worldviews in addition to new syntax and specialized vocabularies.

Expert Reading and Writing Stage

When children reach their midteens, their reading skills allow them to tackle advanced topics in science, history, mathematics, and the arts. They’re able to make associations across subject areas and consider complex issues from diverse points of view. Their reading and writing span topics from social and physical sciences to politics and current affairs.

Importance of Literacy Development in Children

Children gain confidence in many areas of their lives when they grow up to become strong readers. The literary skills they began learning in their first months of life enhance all aspects of their lifelong education. By encouraging a love of reading in children, we instill a desire to learn and progress that propels them through their school years, careers, and personal lives. Children learn that reading is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable skills they’ll ever possess.

Infographic Sources

Crayons, Pencils, and Keyboards, “Why is Literacy Development Important for Children?”

Martin-Pitt Partnership for Children, “Benefits of Early Literacy Skills”

Nationwide Children’s Hospital, “Early Literacy: Why Reading is Important to a Child’s Development”

Reading Rockets, “Comprehension Instruction: What Works”

The Edvocate, “What Are The Five Stages of Reading Development?”

This Reading Mama, “Word Pattern Readers and Spellers {Stage 3}”

Understood, “6 Essential Skills for Reading Comprehension”

UpToDate, “Emergent Literacy Including Language Development”

Emelyanova E.

L. Early development - pros and cons

The topic of the round table was prompted by chance. Once walking near the playground, I witnessed a heated argument between two young mothers.
- You understand, he's only two and a half, and he's already reading!!! one said excitedly.
– You are depriving your son of his childhood! - the other answered her indignantly. - Nothing of the kind, - the first objected with pride, - but what a future awaits him. By the age of 18, you can already defend your dissertation!

Parents of children playing on the playground became interested in the dispute of mothers and soon divided into two "militant" camps. Some looked with admiration at the advanced baby and enthusiastically supported the mother, who promotes early development. Others felt sorry for the child "deprived" of childhood. The dialogue didn't work. I did not dare to join any of the parties, but I really wanted to find out who was right. And I turned for help to specialists dealing with the problems of early development of children.

The following people were invited to participate in the discussion:

Yulia Vladimirovna Alekseeva – President of the network of early development centers “YASAM”;
Anna Yurievna Berson – director of the children's club "Smiley";
Tatyana Vitalievna Vymekaeva – Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Developmental Psychology, Surgut State University;
Lena Danilova - Head of the author's project "Early Child Development";
Lyudmila Mikhailovna Ladosha – pediatric neurologist;
Maria Borisovna Maiorskaya – leading specialist of the Rozhana Center;
Olga Vladimirovna Khukhlaeva – Professor, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Head of the Psychological Service of the Lomonosov School.

- The topic of early childhood development is complex and controversial, so let's first define what early development is, as the participants in the discussion understand it?

Yu. V. Alekseeva . For early childhood development centers, the concept of "early development" is compatible with the concept of "developing lessons" for kids. In these lessons, a child at an early age learns not what he can do on his own, but what he cannot do, but he can do it together with an adult on the basis of the innate childish instinct of “intellectual imitation”. In cooperation, the baby rises one intellectual step higher. What the child can do in cooperation, tomorrow he will do himself.

A.Yu. Burson . If we give a “literal translation”, then early development is the intensive development of the mental and physical functions of a child at an early age (up to 3 years). However, in the modern world, early development, in my opinion, is understood as a certain special attitude towards the child. First of all, parents have a special attitude when they think about how to organize the life of a child in such a way that his innate abilities are maximally developed. How to organize the space around the child; what games to play with him; how to satisfy his cognitive needs; what toys to pick up, or maybe even do it yourself; what developmental classes to attend.

Lena Danilova . I have been involved in early development for over ten years. And during this time, my idea of early development, of course, changed. Each mother understands early development in her own way. For one it's early reading, for the other it's drawing. Some people do a little bit of everything, but also with enthusiasm and enthusiasm. I do not accept early development as early intellectual development. For me, this is, first of all, early creative development, mandatory early physical development and, after all, early education of independence in children. And then the accumulation of knowledge, the development of intelligence, attention, memory, thinking.

TV Vymekaeva . Denoting my attitude to the phenomenon of early development, I would like to raise the problem not so much of development as the problem of the health of our children in general and mental health in particular. This is especially true of the period of early childhood, when the full potential of a person's life is laid. The compensatory possibilities of intellectual development are practically unlimited, but it is very difficult to compensate for physical and mental development at subsequent stages of human development. My attitude to methods of early development is the best if their authors are focused on the psychological laws of the development of an infant and a young child and implement the method they have created themselves. A person (teacher, psychologist, mother) working with a small child should be creative in any method and take from it only what is filled with meaning, feelings and experiences for him.

M.B. Mayorskaya . Children thrive at an early age, absorbing mind-boggling amounts of information if they are not interfered with by adults. Regardless of whether parents strive to develop a child or not, he will go through a colossal stage of development in the first three years of life, of which the first year is especially busy. This happens simply because the child is so arranged. But parents, knowing about this natural feature of the child and not fully understanding why it is needed, are afraid of missing something to their child. Many of them are inspired by the idea of developing a genius in order to be proud of their achievements in raising a child. Well, the mother of a two-year-old baby really wants to say to another mother: “And ours is already reading!” And be sure to emphasize - "that's what we have achieved!", meaning "what a wonderful mother I am."

– What is the main purpose of early development methods? What do their authors propose - to raise a genius?

A.Yu. Burson . As far as I know, genius is either an innate gift, or the fruit of very hard work under the control of parents. For example, many great artists in childhood were forced by their parents to draw for many hours a day (Karl Bryullov, for example). I would not recommend such exhausting classes, even within the framework of one of the methods of early development. I believe that the goal of early development is to stimulate the mental and physical abilities of the child at the most sensitive age for their development. The purpose of early development is not to master certain skills earlier than other children (to learn to walk or read before others). The purpose of early development is the development of thinking, analytical abilities, logic, memory, attention, motor abilities, and mastering various skills, such as reading, writing, counting, etc., is just an inevitable side effect of early development. If a child is engaged, then his abilities develop more intensively and deeper than if no one worked with him.

Yu.V. Alekseeva . The goal is precisely to identify the area of immature, but maturing processes at an early age, which constitute the zone of proximal development of the child. This is the main task of early development. And in order to implement it correctly, parents or teachers need to clearly understand the psychophysiological characteristics of this age. Geniuses are more likely to be born rather than become, and it is our task to raise a successful and happy person through competent early development. And the constituent factors here cannot be limited to intellectual or physical achievements, the social and educational component in early development is an important guarantee of the future personality of a person.

– At an early age, a child has been given phenomenal abilities to assimilate a huge amount of information. Does this mean that the child needs to be loaded with a variety of information as much as possible, or are these abilities given to him by nature for some other purpose?

M.B. Mayorskaya . Man is a social being and he needs a developed brain so that he can successfully integrate into society. To do this, you need to master many concepts. For example, to learn the hierarchy of the group and society, various forms of relationships between its members, restricted areas, one's position in the group, cultural characteristics, way of life and economic system. But besides this, you also need to know what will allow you to survive, understand the relationship with the outside world and be able to navigate in it, that is, the animal and plant world, atmospheric and astronomical phenomena, the change of time of day and seasons, etc. Thus, by the time of social adaptation, which begins in a child at about 3–3.5 years old, he should know everything that will help him live according to the laws of the group and survive in the natural habitat. Therefore, depending on the complexity of the structure of society and the conditions of survival, the child learns one or another amount of knowledge and draws relationships between the concepts received. Its development during this period should be optimal, demanded by vital necessity. In trying to impose on him a developmental program determined by an unnatural way of life, we invariably interfere with the process of the individual development of the child and disrupt it.

– But in the early development classes, children just get ideas about atmospheric and astronomical phenomena, about the animal and plant world, etc.

M.B. Mayorskaya. The specificity of children's perception is that they learn best only what they see and hear, what they receive in direct communication with adults. But they should not see symbolic symbols (numbers and letters), but objects of the outside world and the relationships of people in a group. The child perceives what is transmitted in direct communication and is colored by emotions and many intonations. The text, which he reads on his own, is not colored with emotions, because the baby does not yet have the experience of emotional transmission of information. This experience develops as a result of long daily communication, listening to stories and experiencing various events.

The formation of the emotional experience of a young child is extremely important for the development of his moral concepts. All information must be permeated with feelings. The concepts of good and evil, happiness and sorrow, and even the concept of a bright morning, a hot summer, a dangerous trip, a cozy room and an old sofa, are formed only when the child directly observes the manifestations of feelings and emotions that characterize these concepts.

In addition, the information acquired by the child must be directly related to his life and the life of his family. He is not at all interested in what animals live in central Russia, he needs to know what specific animal he can meet on a walk, or his dad met yesterday, or who left such interesting footprints in the snow. It is living concrete knowledge. And the animals studied in special classes on pictures are perceived so abstractly that children cannot even determine the difference in size between them.

– But what about the methods of early teaching of reading and writing, which promise to teach children to read before they speak?

TV Vymekaeva. Reading early is not only not useful, but even harmful both from the point of view of mental development and from the point of view of the mental health of the child. Reading is a cultural means of understanding the world. Mastering any tool without the possibility of its real application is meaningless. Think of learning English, in which you have absolutely no one to talk to. It is better to learn reading and writing at the same time, as these are two semantic aspects of the process of transmitting information. And what information should the child convey if he still has nothing to say, and this desire will not appear soon, much later than the desire to ask. The fact that a child of this age can be "trained" to reproduce almost any information is a fact, but then think about who you are educating?

Yu.V. Alekseeva . Let's define the boundaries of the term "early" when discussing the process of reading. In a year and a half, of course, it's too early to talk about it. But at two or three years old, the child is already ready to memorize letters, and with pleasure he does it in an easy game form. Musical alphabets, children's posters with the alphabet - for many children are a favorite object. From the age of 3-4, most children are ready to put letters into syllables. And believe me, with such a smooth learning to read from an early age, by the age of five, children master this process without any difficulty and effort. And, on the contrary, if a child only begins to learn to read at the age of 5, this becomes an incredibly difficult process for him and in many cases causes a negative attitude.

Lena Danilova . I believe that there are results where there is game training, where there is regularity, where there is a harmonious combination of physical, creative and intellectual development. And where there is only coaching, there may be results, but they quickly disappear. Do not study for a month - and the child does not remember anything and does not know how.

– So what does early development give a baby?

O.V. Khukhlaeva . I would consider the answer to this question in three dimensions:

why develop a child;
how to develop, that is, are we not replacing development with training;
how to avoid pitfalls in development.

So why develop it anyway? Most parents will say: "It is necessary for him to be successful in life." However, there is practically no relationship between the level of human development and the level of his success or the presence of social status. Everyone knows that the prerequisites for success are the presence in a person of such qualities as initiative, vital activity, creative position, high communication skills. Of course, these qualities can also be developed, and I think it is even necessary. But when we talk about development, we don't mean them. But in vain.

More often, development is understood as teaching a child various knowledge and skills. This is what is usually present in the advertisements of many courses for children. However, the mechanical accumulation of knowledge by a child does not always correspond to an increase in the level of his development, if we understand by the latter the appearance in the child of qualitatively new abilities and possibilities. If you imagine an adult in the role of a sculptor, then many of them see the child as a bag that needs to be filled with plaster as tightly as possible. The bag, filled to the brim, sometimes bursts, the plaster wakes up, while adults diligently try to fill it back up. Of course, this is easier than creating a sculpture from plaster, a qualitatively new creation. This takes more time.

There is one more subtlety. The learning outcomes are immediately visible. They can be shown to relatives and friends. And the results of development are not just barely noticeable, but sometimes appear only after a few years. Therefore, many parents focus on the education of the child. Is it that bad? Many years of experience in admission to an elite school (Lomonosov) shows that too often, only during the entrance test, parents find out that the level of development of their child is insufficient for successful schooling. And the stock of knowledge at the same time is huge.

It turns out that the child is still worth developing? I would say that it is necessary to create conditions for its development, so that it develops itself. And do it wisely, based on such a concept as a sensitive period of development - that is, for a while for the optimal development of a particular cognitive function. During this period, the child should receive “enhanced nutrition” for her. Then it will develop rapidly, otherwise it may stop. Let's take an example. In infancy, the child develops the prerequisites for speech - babbling. Therefore, the developmental condition for him will be the presence of a speech environment. Observations of deaf children have shown that babble occurs in them, as in healthy children, at 5-6 months, and then, without listening to human speech, it gradually fades.

Maybe we should not wait for sensitive periods, but start earlier? Then there are two (actually more) pitfalls that you can run into.

The first is due to the presence of a functional asymmetry of the brain, i.e. different functions performed by the left and right hemispheres. Traditional early learning actualizes mainly the left hemisphere. Without going into details, let's say that there is a chance to overwork a child or grow a “non-creator” out of him, that is, a person who does not know how to create his own creative product.

The second is depriving a child who is actively involved in learning of the time he needs for his natural development, necessary for the formation of activity, initiative, personal characteristics, etc. Parents will face the consequences of choosing this path already in elementary school, and in adolescence will have to sound the alarm. Serious communication difficulties, self-doubt, especially in boys, lack of will - these and many other troubles await such children.

My favorite word is harmony. Therefore, let us allow the child to harmoniously develop body and soul. Logic and intuition. Emotions and mind. Then he will definitely be happy.

– And what makes it possible to achieve high results in early development?

A.Yu. Burson . If at a certain age conditions are created for the child to meet precisely those cognitive needs that are relevant for him at this stage, then the abilities corresponding to these needs develop very quickly and easily. I think that the success of early development methods is that they "toss" the child with the right "food for the mind" at the right time, and the child takes it with interest and pleasure.

Yu.V. Alekseeva . Discipline of parents in matters of child education. Respect and trust in the child - in the educational sphere.

– Now you can often hear even from adults: “I'm not tired, I'm just tired…” Don't children get tired?

TV Vymekaeva . Problems of overload in infants and young children are often encountered by us psychologists. This is a very dangerous age because of the huge potential for "absorption" of everything that is offered to the child. There is a great temptation for adults to “upload” as much information as possible into the receiving system without asking themselves the question: WHY?. This ends at least with neuroses and psychosomatic disorders, and at the maximum with mental illnesses leading to a serious delay in mental development for life. Sometimes there is a feeling that, out of good intentions, parents (sometimes teachers) are trying to stuff the child with everything that supposedly can come in handy in life. But any means is good when there is a vital request for it. And the “in reserve” strategy is reminiscent of a “stingy knight” who died over his treasures, not understanding why he needed them. Protect your children from such a fate!

Yu.V. Alekseeva . And yet, I think that psychologists in their practice should more often deal with "underload" babies than with "overload". For the most part, parents either do not work with the child or do not do enough. After all, any activities with a child require both great effort and pedagogical knowledge. And parents don't always have it. Therefore, it would be great if psychologists were more concerned with the development of children, which is very important at any age. It is between 9for months and 4-5 years, the ability to absorb information is unprecedented, and the desire to receive it is greater than ever, because during this period the human brain develops rapidly, which then gradually slows down. By the age of five, the process of brain growth is 80% complete, and by the age of 8, it is actually completed. And of course, the desire of parents to develop a child during this period occurs, including on an instinctive level. Another question: how to develop - the amount of information received or the qualitative development of mental processes and the necessary skills? I think the second way is more necessary at an early age. And this is what they do in early development centers with kids.

L.M. Ladosha . The development of a child begins from the moment he is born. At each age stage, specific functions are formed that serve as indicators of the development of the infant. Parents need to know, first of all, the main stages in the development of a healthy child. It is important to understand that joint stimulation of all motor, cognitive and speech functions is needed, since all these indicators are important for the harmonious development of the child. Moreover, the main role should be assigned to the emotional communication of the child with the adult. To form a coordinated work of all body systems, it is desirable to act simultaneously on several sense organs, thereby stimulating the visual, tactile and auditory analyzers. The mother and other members of the family should strive to acquire the knowledge that will help the child achieve maximum success in development. Parents should be very attentive to their child, then they will be able to understand what is important and useful for him. Practice shows that a competent approach to the early development of a child helps to maximize his abilities. However, thoughtless stimulation and excessive pressure on the child can lead to unpredictable consequences.

- Summing up the conversation, I would like to hear advice on how parents can find a path to the child's Self and how educators and teachers can maintain the psychological health of preschoolers?

O. V. Khukhlaeva . This question is very capacious, it is difficult to answer it briefly. But it is important for parents to know that a child can be healthy or not healthy not only physically, but also psychologically. It is a pity that modern parents know little about this and often come to a psychologist either on the recommendation of a doctor or when serious behavioral problems arise.

The world around, organized by the child into his own picture, is of great interest to him, he constantly studies it, so he has a need to discuss it with adults. But for this, an adult needs to temporarily abstract himself from his world, forget the laws of his existence and immerse himself in the interests of the child, be close to him. For most adults, this is difficult enough. It is necessary, if necessary, to play with the child - to roar like a lion or “bomb” with pillows an inverted plastic baby bath - a submarine, under which the child captain sits.

It is difficult not only to play, but also to listen to a child without trying to teach him or devalue the child's view of the world. It is in such communication with an adult that a child learns to share experiences, to be emotionally open with loved ones without fear of being judged by them. The kid acquires an understanding of the value of his opinion for others. “Since they listen to me so attentively, it means that what I say and think is important to them” - this is how the child regards the interest of an adult in his story.

If we want a child to be emotionally open, share his experiences with us, and subsequently let friends and relatives into his inner world, it is necessary to show interest in everything that makes up the picture of the child’s world, perceive it with respect, play and discuss it with child.

At the same time, it is imperative to demonstrate that all the thoughts of a child are very important to you, that they are much more significant than, for example, inviting your friend to go fishing with him or visit a solarium. If possible, you can watch films together and discuss them. But the parallel line should be your stories about yourself - about childhood (funny cases, scary stories) and, of course, about today's life. And if you can create situations where the child can give you advice on some matter, it will be very cool.

How to improve your child's literacy: practical tips

A child's literacy is important for most stages of their life. How to develop it from preschool age? How can parents help their children learn without doing the work for them?

In this article we will talk about how you can teach a child to express his thoughts competently.

What research says about children's literacy

A new study from Australia has shown that regularly engaging children in literacy-enhancing play and activities contributes to good outcomes.

There are ten main ways to improve literacy. They include communication and entertainment technology, arts and crafts, writing on paper, screens and other surfaces such as sand and concrete, reading and drawing, and speaking, telling and acting out real or imaginary stories.

The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research found that daily reading for young children improves school outcomes, regardless of marital status and home environment.

Results from the OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) also indicate a strong relationship between parental reading and storytelling at an early age and love of reading in secondary school.

However, just reading is not enough. The interaction between adults and children is also very important.

These interactions must be lively and involve children. Alphabet games and phonetic programs alone do little to promote literacy because they focus on characters without contextual meaning. Words, letters and sounds are best understood when they are seen and applied in everyday life.

How to be a speaking, writing, reading and listening family

There are several practical things parents can do to improve early childhood literacy.

Don't wait

Read what you read aloud to your newborn. Children tune in to the sound of your voice and the tone of the language you speak as their hearing develops.

Share stories

Oral storytelling builds a bridge to written stories. Come up with stories about things in the apartment, about the food that the baby eats and about the world around him. Let everyday items acquire new meanings and associations.

Record your child's stories

Turn them into a book, animation or slideshow. Children will see their spoken words turn into written words. These stories can be slightly modified and expanded to improve word learning, narrative structure, and grammar.

Ask about experiences

For example, have a child describe what they have done, seen, read, or heard. Research shows that children's spoken language contributes to their literacy development, and vice versa.

Books, books, books

For babies and toddlers, start with cardboard board books about faces, animals, and everyday things with a few words to help develop mindfulness.