EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY
During the period of war against poverty in the 1960s, it was discovered that early childhood literacy and development was impacted by the adverse effects of poverty, which led to the need for significant interventions to enhance early childhood literacy, for instance, developing daily childhood language and analyzing the growth of child language (Hart & Risley, 2003). The following intervention was conducted on both poor children and the children of University professors from Kansas City, and IQ tests were carried out. The researchers observed that all the child participants in the program actively engaged in various language-detailed activities and new learning materials which were incorporated in their preschool. The data obtained on spontaneous speech indicated a variety of new vocabulary terms added to toddler dictionaries and the rapid increase in their overall vocabulary growth development. However, according to Hart & Risley (2003, p. 5), the positive effects of the intervention were temporary, similar to other early intervention initiatives.
The results of the Kansas intervention on early childhood literacy were the magnitude of children’s vocabularies could be quickly increased through introducing new words. However, the researchers failed to obtain a rapid and continuous vocabulary growth rate beyond direct tutoring as well as redirect the trajectory of development. It was also observed that there were substantial differences between the vocabulary development of poor Turner House children and the children of professors; children from a poor background indicated slow growth of vocabulary and those of professors showed rapid vocabulary growth (Too Small to Fail 2013). Additionally, when children were taught new words in preschool, it was observed that when they graduated to kindergarten, the impacts of the vocabulary resources boosts would have worn out. The developmental trajectories of children from poor backgrounds linked to vocabulary growth would continue to relate to sizes of vocabulary as they continued to grow. However, the growth trajectories differed from those of the children of professors (High et al., 2014).
According to Hart & Risley (2003, p. 6), early childhood literacy is significantly affected by a child’s family because everything a child learns before they begin to interact with peers in school comes from their family. 86-98% of the words indicated in a child’s vocabulary are also observed in the dictionary of the parents. Children who come from welfare families have a slow vocabulary growth rate, therefore, in a year; they would accumulate approximately 3.2 million new words as opposed to children from a professional background who gather 11.2 million new words (Too Small to Fail 2013).
By 4 years of age, a child from a welfare family would accumulate 13 million vocabulary terms, those from a middle class family would accumulate 26 million words and those from a professional family would accumulate 45 million vocabulary terms (High et al., 2014). Hart & Risley (2003, p. 9) recommend that interventions on early childhood literacy not only address lack of skill or knowledge but also enhance a child’s cognitive experience.
In accordance with High et al., (2014, p. 404), parents have a significant role to play in their children’s literacy, for example, by regularly reading to their young ones which enable optimal patterns of brain growth and improves parent-child connections thus establishing social-emotional skills, language and literacy. The recommendations offered by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) involve pediatric practitioners advocating for the development of early literacy in children from the age of infancy to kindergarten level through five key initiatives: (1) advising guardians on effective shared-reading exercises that are enjoyable for both parents and their children and provide an extensive exposure to language through pictures and words; (2) supporting the broad –spectrum of options that promote early childhood literacy; (3) counseling all guardians and parents on the positive effect of reading out loud with their toddlers that is, preparing a child’s mind to undertake language and skills on early literacy (Too Small to Fail 2013); (4) providing early childhood development books during health supervision consultation for children belonging to low-income high-risk communities and (5) forming partnerships with other child organizations such as Too Small to Fail to enact national policies and campaigns that advocate for and support critical early communal-reading experiences (Too Small to Fail 2013).
Apart from collaborating with pediatric professionals, the AAP promotes the state and federal funding of children’s literature which is availed at pediatric health facilities particularly those in poverty-stricken areas to encourage and integrate literacy among children from poor backgrounds. According to High et al., (2014, p. 405), each year approximately 75% of children in the USA especially 80% of those in the poverty threshold develop very little or no reading skills by the time they finish third grade. Additionally, children from low-income families have few or no literacy resources for example children books, therefore, reducing the opportunities for reading regularly and increasing their possibilities of early childhood adversity and stress toxicity at the toddler stage (Hart & Risley, 2003). Hence, children from poor backgrounds suffer learning disadvantage even before they can acquire early childhood literacy interventions.
Too Small to Fail is an initiative enacted in the USA that aims to assist parents and organisations implement significant actions to enhance the wellbeing of young children between the age of 0-5 years, hence, preparing more American children for successful adult life. The focus of the initiative was to enhance public awareness through action campaigns for guardians and parents, which tackle the obstacles of a child’s health, development and education. Hence, the main goals of the initiative were to motivate action by prompting guardians and the community on early childhood literacy through singing, talking and reading with young children and magnify attention by raising awareness among leaders and guardians on the significance of language-filled parenting in the early years of a toddler’s life (High et al., 2014).
Some successful initiatives that Too Small to Fail have launched include forming media collaboration with Univision in 2014 which aimed to enhance early vocabulary growth among Hispanic children through online, television, community and radio platforms (Too Small to Fail 2013). Another initiative was partnering with Hollywood and leadership councils to implement television programs and advertisements on print and social media platforms and video messages on the topic of ‘Word Gap’. Furthermore, Too Small to Fail has partnered with Text4Baby, a free mobile-based app to improve child and maternal wellbeing through texting and Sesame Street to incorporate information on early cognitive development and the positive impact of reading, singing and talking to toddlers and babies. Too Small to Fail has also partnered with hospitals to discuss how they can bridge the ‘Word Gap’ in society for example through availing the Sing Parent toolkit, distributing the Too Small to Fail Sesame Street Talk and providing information on how to register on the Text4Baby app.
Conclusion
Early childhood literacy suffers from the ‘Word Gap’, which contributes to the significant vocabulary gap between children from professional and poor backgrounds. Over the years, there has been various intervention strategies to tackle the ‘Word Gap’ which include enacting the ‘Read to Me’ intervention whereby parents engage their children in reading, talking and singing to develop children’s vocabulary skills and knowledge. Other initiatives to develop children’s cognitive experience and promote early childhood literacy particularly among low-income families were enacted by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Too Small to Fail that focus on awareness campaigns and partnerships to address the issues associated with children’s health, development and education.
References
Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (2003). The early catastrophe: The 30 million word gap by age 3.
American educator, 27(1), 4-9. Retrieved from http://www.aft.org//sites/default/files/periodicals/TheEarlyCatastrophe.pdf Accessed: January 11, 2019.
High, P. C., Klass, P., Donoghue, E., Glassy, D., DelConte, B., Earls, M., … & Schulte, E. E.
(2014). Literacy promotion: an essential component of primary care pediatric practice. Pediatrics, 134(2), 404-409. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/06/19/peds.2014-1384.full.pdf Accessed: January 11, 2019.
Too Small to Fail (2013). Too Small to Fail Achievements for Our First Year: Tackling the
‘Word Gap’ Retrieved from http://toosmall.org/blog/too-small-to-fail-achievements-for-our-first-year-tackling-the-word-gap Accessed: January 11, 2019.