Being able to read opens up the world for your child. Here are some research-driven strategies to help your child become a reader. "Develop a habit of talking and reading from birth to build up children’s knowledge. Sing songs and play games. Elaborate on what they say to increase their language, then tell your own stories—about what happened on the bus, what you saw on the news, what you heard on the radio—and encourage them to tell theirs. Make reading a routine. Babies enjoy being held and talked to while looking at simple picture books. Toddlers like to look at pictures while lifting flaps and feeling textures and hearing rhymes. Children age 4-9 enjoy longer stories and repeated reading of favorite stories and nonfiction books. Make a point of reading chapter books out loud—listening is tough work for kids at first, but easier with practice; it is valuable for children’s language growth to hear great stories that are beyond their reading ability. It is also great fun for caregivers and children alike to read together." Raising Readers, 2012 http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1136423.files/ReadersJourney.pdf
