Research and policy
Parent-training can help children's language and literacy
3 Jun 2010
It is well known that children's language development lays the foundation for their literacy development, though it is difficult for preschool teachers alone to consistently engage in the individual interactions necessary to boost children’s language skills. Given that parents are their children’s first teachers, it is imperative to consider how parents can help improve their children’s language and emergent literacy development prior to formal schooling. A recently published study reviews parent-training studies of children’s language and literacy in three contexts: parent/child book reading; parent/child conversations; and parent/child writing. Parent training in each of these contexts has the capacity to improve children’s language and literacy, with the effects being specific to the targeted skill. All three contexts are potentially valuable sites for training parents to help their children’s language and literacy. The full report, A review of parent interventions for preschool children’s language and emergent literacy, was published in Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.
(Originally published in the 22 April 2010 edition of the ECU bulletin)
