You and the school share responsibility for your child's language and literacy learning. Collaborate with your school to make decisions about your child's literacy education right from the start. Your child benefits when you and the school work together to support her literacy development. Working together promotes faster development and catches…

Taking part in literacy experiences at home can develop your child's reading ability, comprehension, and language skills. Activities that you can engage in at home include: joint reading, drawing, singing, storytelling, reciting, game playing, and rhyming. You can tailor activities to your child's age and ability level, and can incorporate…

Recent efforts to motivate parents' involvement in their child's literacy development involve informing parents about how to incorporate literacy development into daily routines. Teacher leadership and communication are critical--the more teachers encourage and assist parents and caregivers in supporting their child's literacy development, the…

Dyslexia and other learning disabilities are not being properly recognized and treated in our educational system or society at large. Unrecognized and untreated learning disabilities represent a serious social and economic problem, not only to the individual but to society as a whole. For example, antisocial behavior, as seen in prison populations…

This resource provides parents with widely held expectations for their child's development prior to kindergarten and ways parents can encourage their child's growth. Although a child's growth and development follows a general pattern, all children grow at different rates. Some children will be doing things earlier or later than others. There's no…

In today's high-tech world, math and science matter. Of the 10 fastest growing occupations, eight are science, math or technology-related. Whatever a child wants to do--join the military, join the workforce, or go on to college--math and science skills will be important. Become part of the equation to help one's child succeed now and in the…

Contends that the basic reason for functional illiteracy is that as children, individuals did not develop the ability to meet the challenges required for reading and writing and that children can develop the ability to meet these challenges by having parents read to them at an early age. (FL)

Highlights ways parents can support the development of writing at home through engaging activities. Offers suggestions including: (1) writing as an extension of imagination; (2) pictures and words; (3) expanding drawing; (4) entering the social world; and (5) everyday activities as sources of ideas. Asserts that forming a literacy club will help…

Argues that concepts of literacy develop gradually and that in a natural language environment, saturated with good stories, meaningful conversation, and abundant writing materials, the process can begin even before a child goes to school. (FL)

Argues that in language development, children display a sustained and conscious effort to learn (L) words and expressions, assimilate (A) the language system, and acquire fluency (F) in using it to communicate. Maintains the same is true in literacy development. (FL)

Describes a Missouri-based program, Parents as Teachers (PAT), in which professionals work with parents to develop literacy activities in the home. Discusses a new adaptation of the original PAT program, its observed effects, and implications for schools. (MG)

Examines traditional and current beliefs about the reading process, and presents specific strategies that parents and teachers can use to help children learn to read. Parents and teachers can use patterned books and the reading and writing of sentences to foster reading skills. (MDM)

Describes a program adopted by five native Indian bands in British Columbia in which parents promote their children's early language and reading skills in the home. (FL)

This transcript of a hearing held by the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education of the United States House of Representatives focuses on the findings of two surveys conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP): the third national reading assessment and the third writing assessment. The transcript…

A study focused on families whose children were successful but not exceptional students in kindergarten. Subjects were eight parents (all mothers) whose children had been enrolled the previous year in a kindergarten program that maintained a whole language curricular orientation. The children (four girls and four boys) were highly successful in…