Background Information on Brain Development and Early Literacy
Books, Videos, and Websites
For Parents...
Acredolo, Linda. Baby Minds: Brain-Building Games Your Baby Will Love, Birth to Age Three. NY: Bantam, 2000.
Combines a conversational tone with recent research findings on infant and child development, including chapters on the brain, emotional development, the way children think and learn, early literacy, mathematical concepts, and creativity. Age breakdown from birth to 36 months for activities and development within each chapter.
Bickart, Toni. Reading Right From the Start: What Parents Can Do in the First Five Years. Washington, DC: Teaching Strategies, 2000.
Bickart, Toni. El buen comienzo de la lectura: lo que pueden hacer los padres durante los primeros cinco años. Washington, DC: Teaching Strategies, 2001.
Practical advice in an easy-to-read format on ways parents can help their young children become good readers and writers. Chapters on Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Ready for Kindergarten. Charts in each chapter explain activities to do throughout the day and how they support your child’s development.
Born to Succeed (12 minutes); La llave del éxito (10 minutes). Videos. Portland, OR: Multnomah County Public Library.
Young parents share their experiences of reading with their infants and toddlers, describing how it strengthens their relationship and builds literacy development. Unscripted and unstaged, their personal stories provide a powerful and poignant message to young parents.
Mis Padres, Mis Maestros: My Parents, My Teachers. Video, 15 minutes each part: English and Spanish. Chicago: El Valor, 1998.
Using real life situations, shows the importance of communicating, playing, reading, and singing to their baby for the development of the newborn's brain, the first three years of life are the most critical. Emphasizes the importance of reading, talking, and singing to your child from birth, and that parents are a baby's first teacher. The parents’ level of participation and love that they offer their baby will have a profound effect on his or her development throughout life.
National Research Council. Starting Out Right: A Guide to Promoting Children’s Reading Success. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999. (www.nap.edu)
Helps parents and educators understand the key elements that research shows children need to become good readers, and how to prevent reading difficulties. Enhances research with many ideas and examples. Chapters for Preschool Years, Kindergarten through Grade Three, and Preventing Reading Difficulties.
Ramey, Craig. Right From Birth: Building Your Child’s Foundation for Life, Birth to 18 Months. NY: Goddard Press, 1999.
Written with parents in mind, summarizes research and its implications regarding emotional growth, social skills, communication, and early learning of children from birth to 18 months. Offers insights and suggestions for activities parents can do to support their children.
Ready to Learn and Listos para aprender. Videos, 30 minutes. Los Angeles, CA: I Am Your Child.
Hosted by LeVar Burton, Jamie Lee Curtis (English), and Edward James Olmos (Spanish) lead a discussion on the importance of early literacy and show parents and caregivers how to help young children develop language skills through everyday activities like talking, singing and playing.
Schickedanz, Judith. Much More Than the ABCs: The Early Stages of Reading and Writing. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1999.
For parents and educators of children from birth to age five, focuses on selecting books at each developmental level and ways to support early literacy skills through the use of books.
Shore, Rima. Rethinking the Brain: New Insights Into Early Development. NY: Families and Work Institute, 1997.
An outstanding, thorough and readable review of research on the development of children ages 0-5. Helps in understanding the critical importance of the first years of life in laying the foundation for emotional, social and cognitive development.
Silberg, Jackie. Brain Games for Babies, Toddlers & Twos: 140 Ways to Boost Development. NY: Sterling, 2000.
Activities and games for adults playing with newborn to three-year-olds, going through the day. Arranged by age from birth to 36 months in three-month intervals. One activity per page including brief research information for each. Illustrated with color photographs.
Toddler Play: 100 Fun-Filled Activities to Maximize Your Toddler’s Potential. Chanhassen, MN: Creative Publishing International, 2001.
Illustrated with brightly colored photographs, combines play activities (games, songs, chants) with the developmental and educational benefits and summarizes research reports on child development. Arranged by age from one year to two-and-a-half years in six-month intervals.
Websites
Zero to Three’s Baby Brain Map
In question and answer format, presents recent research on brain development and early literacy of children newborn to age three. Adapted by Zero to Three from BrainWonders, a collaborative project (1998-2001) between Boston University School of Medicine, Erikson Institute, and Zero to Three.
Ready At Five
Tip sheets and activity calendar for parents to support early literacy
A Child Becomes a Reader: Birth Through Preschool
Summarizes skills important in becoming a reader (for newborn to age 6) and then has a section of activities by ages. Includes bibliography and brief explanation of No Child Left Behind Act. Put out by The Partnership for Reading, administered by the National Institute for Literacy in cooperation with National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, and US Department of Education and US Department of Health and Human Services.
How Children Learn
Concise summary of how children from birth to age five acquire spoken language. Goes through the stages of speech development. Examples of children’s speech at each age level and "when to call for help". Sponsored by Preschool Speech and Language Services of Ontario’s Wellington and Dufferin Counties.
Early Words
Succinct explanations of the importance of early brain development and early literacy. Includes parent tips. Multnomah County (OR) Public Library.
Grow Up Reading @ The West Bloomfield Township Public Library
Includes the early literacy skills from the Every Child Ready to Read Project as part of their parent information on reading with young children.
Parent's Guide to Reading with Your Child
Includes importance of bonding as part of reading together, suggestions for reading routines for infants and toddlers, and 3 to 5 year olds, on choosing books. Brain Waves, how the activities surrounding reading a book affect brain learning/development. Literacy Activity Calendar for parents showing skills being enhanced by each activity. Sponsored by National Center for Family Literacy.
Parents Page
Parent Page Handouts on a variety of topics including choosing books for young children and reading with your child. In English and Spanish. Sponsored by Parents As Teachers, an early childhood parent education and family support program serving families throughout pregnancy until age five. Program designed to enhance child development and school achievement through parent education.
Babies Are Born Learning
Tri-fold in English or Spanish to help parents understand ways to help their children birth to five years through play, reading, talking, listening and showing respect for their children.
Child Development
Good summary of brain development and cognitive development in infants and toddlers. From Early Head Start Resource Center
Ready*Set*Read Activities
Explains what behaviors to expect from children (birth to age five), how they learn, what children learn about language, and activities to enjoy with children at each age-level: birth to eight months old, eight to 18 months old, 18 - 36 months old, and three to five year olds.
Your Baby, Toddler and Preschooler
Ways for parent to build a child’s early literacy skills. Good section on choosing good books, reading aloud, and language-rich homes. From Reading Is Fundamental.
Brain Development in Infants and Toddlers
Research on early brain development pulled from a variety of early childhood web sources. By National Child Care Information Center.
Colorín Colorado: Helping Kids Learn to Read . . . and Succeed!
Information, activities, and advice for Spanish-speaking parents. Concentrates on school-age children, but some information for young children as well. It’s bilingual.