Learning to read and write doesn’t begin when a child starts school. Rather, emergent literacy begins at birth and continues through the preschool years and early school years! Children are exposed to print and literacy materials in everyday situations, through sharing books, telling stories and the environment. They gradually learn to recognize letters, words, street signs and logos, and their crayon scribbles eventually turn into meaningful pictures and letters of the alphabet. The experiences that they have in talking, listening and playing in addition to repeated exposure to storybooks, prepare children for learning to use their language in written form, that is, to read and write! I once heard that children need 5 years of exposure to literacy before they are ready to read themselves. That covers the entire period of life from birth to kindergarten!

As a speech-language pathologist, I knew this information before my daughters were born. That is why I started reading to them very early, as soon as they were able to focus on a picture book for a few seconds. Reading books together was absolutely my favorite way to cuddle and get cozy with my girls, and it was a nightly ritual before bedtime. Both girls LOVED story time, and became avid book lovers and readers themselves. Ahhh….mission accomplished, but I sure miss those wonderful years when the girls were little.

My love for books and literacy, particularly children’s books, has naturally spilled over into my therapy approach. I try whenever possible to incorporate literacy into therapy activities, and love to develop literacy themed activities for children even if they are only working on sounds. For that reason, I have decided to celebrate May is Better Hearing and Speech Month through a coloring contest! My picture is of an owl sitting on a book. I can’t stress enough how valuable and important storybooks are to your child’s development and academic success, but I think Dr. Seuss said it best: “The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you go!”

Coloring Contest: May is Better Hearing and Speech Month

If you live in the Denver West or Arvada area, please enter my coloring contest in honor of May is Better Hearing and Speech Month! If not, please share this post anyway. You never know who you may be helping!

Thanks for reading,

Cindy McCallum, M.Sc, R.SLP, SLP(C), CCC-SLP

Registered Speech-Language Pathologist

Sources:

www.asha.org

www.zerotothree.org