One of my new students this semester loves to read. That shouldn't be such a surprise. After all, I teach college classes, which require hours of reading. When I ask my students each semester about their reading habits, many of them say they don't like to read. Two recent studies confirm the value of reading for children as well as adults.
Of course, I came across this information through my reading. A newspaper columnist last week wrote about a study comparing early language development in professional, working class and welfare families. Children from welfare families had smaller vocabularies and received fewer statements of encouragement from their parents than children from working class or professional households. The study revealed that by age four, children from homes where parents were professionals were exposed to 30 million more words than children from welfare families.
Teachers and schools are held accountable for student performance. Maybe it's time we started holding parents accountable for those crucial early years of language development.
Another study that followed a group of nuns for many years revealed that the complexity of thought is a factor in Alzheimer's patients. The nuns whose language development was more extensive at a young age had less risk of contracting Alzheimer's disease as they grew older.
We've all heard the saying that "a mind is a terrible thing to waste." Reading to young children unlocks their potential. Words do matter, and words of encouragement and praise are important.
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