Reading scores in American schools just hit a new low, according to the latest Nation’s Report Card. More students than ever are having trouble reading — and the problem starts long before they reach fourth grade. The good news? Supporting early literacy development can help prevent these reading struggles! We just need to start much earlier, right from birth.

Children begin learning to read long before they start elementary school. That’s why parents, teachers, and caregivers need to focus on early literacy skills from day one.

What is early literacy? It means all the basic skills babies and young children learn that help them understand and use words. Children learn these skills by listening to stories, looking at books, and talking with others. Think of these skills like building blocks — each new skill stacks on top of the ones that came before.

When children build these skills early, good things happen. They start school stronger. They are more likely to finish high school. And they enter the workforce prepared for success.

Let’s look at what research tells us about helping children get a strong start.

What Is Early Literacy in Early Childhood?

Early literacy is not the same as early reading. Some people think early literacy means teaching babies and toddlers how to read. And that’s simply not true.

In fact, experts say making young children read before they’re ready can hurt their learning. It might make them dislike books. It might even make them connect books with failure.

Early literacy is about helping children learn to read, write, and talk naturally. It happens when children enjoy books. It happens when they have good experiences with adults who read and talk with them. And when they hear lots of words and stories every day.

Some great examples of what early literacy skills are include:

• Learning to talk
• Understanding lots of words
• Knowing letters
• Understanding that written words have meaning

The Science of Children’s Early Literacy Development

The first years of life are super important for learning. During this time, a child’s brain makes over a million new connections every second! These connections are like tiny bridges that help different parts of the brain work together.

When young children spend time with books and language, their brains build special paths for reading, writing, and communicating. These paths are called “neural connections.” Every time they play with books, write or draw, or talk with adults, they’re building these paths stronger.

Research shows that children who don’t develop early literacy skills before starting school often have trouble reading later. And these problems can last throughout their school years into adulthood.

That’s why it’s so important to help children build these skills early. Conversations, rhymes, and stories help a child’s brain get ready for reading.

Benefits of Early Literacy Skills Outside of Academics

Strong early literacy skills help children in other ways too. Children who have strong early literacy foundations learn to handle their emotions better and build stronger friendships. They approach learning with more confidence. They jump into classroom activities and tackle new challenges. Because they can express their needs and feelings clearly, they have fewer challenging behaviors. This creates a better learning environment for everyone.

The benefits continue into adulthood. Children with strong early literacy skills often attend and graduate from college and are more successful in their careers. As adults, they have more opportunities to pursue their goals and make meaningful contributions to their communities. It’s what researchers call “enhanced productivity in adult life.” It means they have the skills to fully participate in today’s reading- and writing-focused world.

 

Supporting Early Childhood Educators To Build Early Literacy Skills

To the untrained eye, it may not look like early educators teach literacy. But they do! They are key to helping children develop early literacy skills. A child’s verbal interactions with their teachers build the foundation.

Today’s early childhood teachers have a big job. It’s a challenging, demanding job. And they need to teach in ways that work better than ever before. They also need to keep track of how each child is learning (“Early Beginnings: Early Literacy, Knowledge and Instruction”). To do this well, teachers need training in:

• New research about how children learn language
• Ways to help children hear and have fun with word sounds
• Methods for teaching new words
• Skills for tracking each child’s progress
• Ways to adjust teaching for different children

With more early childhood education programs opening but not enough trained teachers to staff them, we face two big problems. We need more teachers, and we need to make sure all teachers get high-quality professional development.

Measuring What Matters for Early Literacy Success

At LENA, we measure what matters most for early literacy development: back-and-forth interactions between adults and children. We call these interactions “conversational turns.” Even infants experience conversational turns.

Conversational turns help build the brain connections children need to become good readers. Research has shown this. Babies who experience more conversational turns have higher early reading skills at age five. When children have more conversational turns, they:

• Learn more words
• Get better at hearing and using sounds in words
• Understand language more easily
• Follow stories better
• Understand more of what they read

Our research tells an important story. After studying more than 24,000 children, we found that children have fewer conversational turns in child care centers than at home. That is troubling, since so many young children attend child care. But we also discovered something exciting! When teachers learn how they talk with children and get help to talk more often, children get much better at using language. And this directly impacts their early literacy development.

That’s just one of the reasons why we created LENA Grow, a professional development program that helps teachers measure and increase their daily conversations with children. The program works. Data shows these children are more likely to be at or above average in their language, reading, and thinking skills compared to children who don’t participate.

Do you work in early childhood education? Are you ready to transform early literacy in your program? Take the first step by completing a LENA Program Readiness Assessment. This 10-minute evaluation will help you understand how to bring research-based professional development to teachers and create lasting positive change for children.