Congratulations to Michelle Brown who has had her important paper accepted for publication:
Brown, M. I., Wang, C., & McLeod, S. (in press). Reading with 1-2 year olds impacts later academic achievement at 8-11 years. Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
Here is the abstract:
Parent-child book reading with infants is widely recommended and considered one of the most effective parent-child activities for promoting language and literacy development; however, there is limited evidence that reading books with infants (1-2 years) strengthens later literacy skills. The present study examined the long-term impact of parent-child book reading at 1-2 years with literacy, language, and numeracy skills at 8-11 years. Participants were 3,547 infants and their caregivers from a nationally representative study. The number of minutes caregivers reported reading books with their infants (1-2 year) were examined with literacy, language, and numeracy skills on a national assessment program in Grades 3 (8-9 years) and 5 (10-11 years). Covariates included sex, age, race, language background, socioeconomic position, and cognition. Small and positive relationships were found between parent-child book reading at 1-2 years and reading, spelling, grammar, and numeracy scores in Grade 3 (8-9 years) and reading, writing, spelling, and grammar scores in Grade 5 (10-11 years). Infants (1-2 years) whose parents read with them for 11 mins or more per day had stronger reading, spelling, and grammar skills in Grades 3 and 5.
Highlights
- Long-term benefits from parent-child book reading with 1-2 year olds was examined
- 3547 infants and their parents from a nationally representative study participated
- Book reading predicted reading, spelling, grammar, and numeracy skills at Grade 3
- Book reading predicted reading, writing, spelling, and grammar skills at Grade 5
- Higher levels of book reading each day supported long-term literacy development
Michelle undertook this study with Audrey and myself during her postdoc. Congratulations Michelle!
