The Read to Me Project helps prepare children for kindergarten and school success!
The first 1,000 days of a child’s life are often referred to as the brain’s window of opportunity, experts say, a time of great potential but also great vulnerability. The most explosive growth comes first, with the brain doubling in the first year.
Researchers are concerned that less parental stimulation coupled with a lack of engagement with other children during the pandemic may be partly to blame. This decreased interaction may inhibit the growth of neural connections that drive child development. However, they are hopeful that the cognitive decline may be reversible if the stimulation increases.
There is abundant evidence that the pandemic has impacted children on a variety of fronts, ranging from literacy lags and mental health issues to deepening poverty, all of which can profoundly influence their education.
What We Know
- 85% of brain development occurs during the first five years of life.
- Early enrichment stimulates brain development.
- Children from language-rich families perform better in school.
- Reading to young children is an easy and effective way to build language, vocabulary and knowledge.
- Literacy is the gateway to a life-time of opportunity and learning.
The Problem
A large number of children enter kindergarten significantly behind in readiness skills; often lacking in life experiences, vocabulary, basic knowledge, language and comprehension.
We help families create the critical early learning engagement necessary for academic success. Children who fall behind early in their school careers often don’t catch up.
The video below features Anne Fernald, a prominent early childhood expert and Stanford professor, explaining the importance of talking and reading to very young children.
The following video explains how early childhood experience impacts brain architecture and development.
The following video explains why reading is the perfect stimulation for young minds and why things like television are not.