How to Improve Your Children's Reading Skills

While it is common knowledge that reading to children helps them learn to read, a recent study suggests that by pointing to the words being read and talking about print, children's literacy development can be greatly enhanced.



The study published in the journal Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (www.asha.org) (ASHA), was conducted to determine the effectiveness of teachers' use of a print-referencing style during story time.

The results showed that preschool teachers can make very small adjustments in the way they read books aloud that make very large differences in children's literacy development. In a study of 379 children, those who experienced a print-referencing style of reading had significantly higher print knowledge scores after only 30 weeks.

"This study was conducted in classrooms with preschool teachers but has direct implications for parents,” according to first author Laura Justice, PhD, CCC-SLP. "Parents can easily help their children become better readers by not only reading to them every night but by also pointing to the words as they read aloud to their child.” Justice further explains that "although reading aloud is important to children's language development, its influence mostly affects oral language skills unless adults explicitly reference the written code. Talking to children about words that, for example, begin with the letter R after reading the word radio can greatly enhance literacy development.”

The entire paper can be found at http://lshss.asha.org/cgi/content/abstract/0161-1461_2010_09-0056.

About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 140,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders.

New Cookbook For Healthier Children

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports 16 percent of children (over 9 million) ages 6 to 19 years are overweight or obese - a number that has tripled since 1980. Another 15 percent of child are considered at risk of becoming overweight indicates the "Prevalance of Overweight and Obesity Among Children and Adolescents".

Overweight adolescents have a 70 percent chance of becoming overweight or obese adults. According to a national household survey published in Pediatrics in 2004, fast food consumption has increased fivefold among children since 1970 resulting in an estimated extra six pounds per year, per child. Obesity is a serious health, which is associated with risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes. Parents looking for ways to make fast and healthy meals can find help in the form of a new video and tip sheet with recipes from motivational speaker and cookbook author, Lisa A. Lundy, which you can download free from her website at www.TheSuperAllergyCookbook.com.

Lundy's three children have a variety of food allergies, which eliminate foods containing gluten, dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts and a few other allergens. What that means for Lundy is there is literally no "fast food" for them unless it comes out of the freezer, slow cooker, or is simply a quick cooking meal. As a working mother, time is of the essence for this busy woman. She has learned how to save time and money in the kitchen and still have healthy foods for her family. "You can have delicious tasting and nutritious foods and not spend hours and hours in the kitchen every day," Lundy said. "What is takes is good recipes, planning and preparation. And if you are cooking for children, by all means get them involved."

She practices what she preaches. Her two sons, ages 12 and 10, can make baked goods - from scratch - with no supervision. Her youngest, Anne who is 7 years old, can make a trail mix from scratch and is quickly becoming an expert salad chef. "Getting children involved in the meal planning, shopping and preparation can boost their self-esteem and pride. Plus, it often helps to increase the kinds and numbers of foods a child will eat" said Lundy.

Lundy is the author of The Super Allergy Girl™ Allergy & Celiac Cookbook - From A Mother Who Knows™, a gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, peanut free, tree nut free and other allergen free resource for both beginners and advanced cooks. Her daughter has had severe health issues due to an inability to absorb vitamins and nutrients from her diet - an issue that has set the family back over $100,000 in uncovered medical bills. The prognosis for Lundy's daughter Anne was poor at best given the level of severe malnutrition her blood testing results showed. With the help of several good physicians and multiple therapies, Anne has improved substantially and has a bright future. In the process the whole family has had to learn the importance of nutrition.

To help other parents and consumers, Lundy shares what she has learned by uploading free white papers, tip sheets, recipes, videos and other documents to her website -www.TheSuperAllergyCookbook.com - there for the taking. She loves helping people so this journey lines up with her passion of contributing to others.