Reading aloud is the single most important thing a parent or caregiver can do to improve a child’s readiness to read and learn. While BookSpring focuses on bringing reading experiences to young children in the greatest financial need, all parents and children can benefit from practicing reading aloud every day.
A new report by Scholastic showed that in 2014, that only 31% of children said they read a book for fun almost daily, down from 37% a year ago. Moreover, the study indicated that the benefits of being read aloud to continued on for older children, and was not limited to younger children.
Researchers agree reading aloud is the single most important activity parents, grandparents, and caregivers can do to promote early brain development and lifelong learning success. Unfortunately, fewer than half the children under age 5 in the United States are read aloud to every day. At current kindergarten readiness levels, over the next decade, 15 million children will start school at the lowest level of learning readiness – putting them at greatest risk for reading delays and school failure.
Not only does reading aloud help with learning, it can help promote positive behavior in young children. Nobody is happy when bedtime becomes a battleground. Besides being educational, reading aloud helps pave the way for a more relaxed and enjoyable end of the day.
When every child is read aloud to for 15 minutes every day from birth, more children will be ready to learn when they enter kindergarten, more children will have the literacy skills needed to succeed in school, and more children will be prepared for a productive and meaningful life after school.
You can make a difference by reading aloud to a child today! Contact our volunteer program for opportunities in the Greater Austin area today.
This effort is a part of Read Aloud 15 MINUTES, a non-profit organization that is working to make reading aloud every day for at least 15 minutes the new standard in child care.
