Articles for Parents

Every child is unique, with his or her own personality, interests and developmental timetable. Not all babies crawl or walk at the same time. The same is true for language skills. You can help your child grow his or her language skills with simple, everyday activities.

Reading is a tough learning task for the brain, and early environments and experiences have an enormous impact on how the brain develops. Paying attention and responding to your baby’s needs from day one can foster strong brain development.

With smartphones, tablets, laptops and more types of technology integrated into our daily lives, it’s hard not to think about how and when to use these devices with our children. Technology can be a fun way to allow your child to practice new skills, but what young children most need are interactions with caring adults.

How do you select books to read with your child? As you make selections, consider providing a variety of genres or categories in your home library. One helpful way to categorize children's literature is with four primary genres.

There is such a wide variety of books to choose from for young children, selecting them can often be a confusing and difficult task. This article offers some simple suggestions to help you select good quality literature for your child, so you can choose books you and your child will enjoy.

One of the biggest predictors of your child’s success in school is what happens in the home. It is important to create a home environment in which you provide language-rich experiences on a daily basis.

Reading a book serves many valuable purposes. This simple, yet powerful, interaction can be enhanced with a few easy techniques that you can add in to your daily read-aloud sessions.

You can help your child build her pre-reading skills by giving loving attention, modeling good reading behaviors and providing the tools and space to practice reading and writing on her own.

What you do and don't do from birth to foster your child's reading skills can make all the difference in his future love of reading and understanding of language.