Reading foundations from natural interactions

Educational Psychologist Jane Healy, PhD, shares advice for parents on how increasing interaction with your baby helps improve their ability to learn to read
Teaching Babies To Read Through Natural Interactions
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Reading foundations from natural interactions

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When we see all of these ads for programs to teach our babies to read, we get worried because we think out baby is going to fall behind if we don't use them. The fact is that you are teaching your baby to read any time you interact with them, even in language or games. Reading is based on taking a message from someone else and understanding it. The best basis for teaching your child to read early on is your own interactions with that child. When you talk, when you listen, when you help the child express his or herself. It is not about phonics when they are three years old. It's about being able to hear and understand the sounds of the language. It's about warm books because you have had warm, loving experiences reading together. It's about a child having control over his or her own brain, to the point where a child can actually sit down and pay attention to a book. Our very over programmed, rushed, and over screened kids, sometimes have problems with reading, simply because they don't have that solid foundation of language and thinking skills, which are gained, not from fast-track programs, but rather natural interactions with other human beings.

Educational Psychologist Jane Healy, PhD, shares advice for parents on how increasing interaction with your baby helps improve their ability to learn to read

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Jane M. Healy, PhD

Educational Psychologist

Jane Healy is a teacher and educational psychologist who has worked with all ages from pre-school to graduate school.  Her major research interest has been in finding practical applications of current brain research for teachers and parents.  A graduate of Smith College, she holds a MA from John Carroll University, a PhD from Case Western Reserve University, and post-doctoral work in developmental neuropsychology.  She has served on the faculty of Cleveland State University. Her many years of experience include: parent, classroom teacher, reading/learning specialist, elementary administrator, and clinician.  She is recognized internationally as an author, lecturer, and consultant. She has received international media coverage, including Nightline, Good Morning America, the Today Show, CNN and NPR, for her ideas about the impact of technology, media and culture on children's brain development and learning.

Although Jane has received many honors, including being twice named the "Educator of the Year" by Delta Kappa Gamma, she claims that she and her husband have learned most of what they know from the process of raising three sons (and now their six grandchildren).

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