Literacy news
From birth, engage your child with talk
28 Sep 2009
She describes the pleasure she gets from seeing a parent constantly communicating with the baby as they push them down the road, pointing out flowers and plants and never ceasing to interact with their child. She describes how the more common occurrence in her neighbourhood is to see parents tuned in to their mobile phones, BlackBerrys and iPods rather than to their children.
She is not the only one alarmed by modern parental behaviour; she also speaks with Randi Jacoby, a speech and language specialist in New York, who describes how: Parents have stopped having good communications with their young children, causing them to lose out on the eye contact, facial expression and overall feedback that is essential for early communication development.
Ms. Jacoby’s general advice to parents: “Reward your little one’s communicative attempts with your heightened attention to his or her conversation. Be prepared to put down your cellphone and look them squarely in the eye as they share their thoughts with you.”
In the full article, Brody goes on to describe a number of simple tips that parents can use with their child. The article can be found at www.nytimes.com.
(New York Times, 28 September 2009)
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