There has been a great deal of research in the last decade concerning early childhood literacy and school readiness.

Early literacy practices target three different age groups:

• Early Talker (newborn to age 2)
• Talker (2-3 years)
• Pre-reader (4-5 years)

The major focus is on six pre-reading skills:

• Narrative Skills: the ability to describe things and events and to tell a story
• Print Motivation: being interested in and enjoying books
• Vocabulary: knowing the name of things
• Phonological Awareness: being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words
• Letter Knowledge: knowing letters are different from each other, knowing their names and sounds, and recognizing letters everywhere
• Print Awareness: noticing print, knowing how to handle a book, and knowing how to follow the words on a page

Youth Services librarians, and many parents, have practiced these skills for years and involved young children in library programs, feeling that it was “the right thing to do.”  Now scientific research is verifying that, yes, it is the right thing to do, telling us why, and improving our methods and helping the library communicate this important work to parents and caregivers during storytimes and outreach activities.

The Web site of the Public Library Association provides further information, and the Born Learning Web site is a great resource for a program going on in Washington County via Community Action. See more Web sites.