It is safe to say that most parents, if not all, believe that there are numerous academic benefits of reading to your child, even without having any research done on it. We can see how children who are always on their books become straight-A students. Bookworms also become more articulate and, generally, do better in school.
Cognitive Effects of Reading to Children
1. It increases a child’s (as young as infants) receptive vocabularies by up to 40%.
2. It makes children love learning and they tend to do well in school.
3. It lets young children learn the basics of reading, such as words are read from left to right and flipping the pages of a book continues the story.
4. It helps build listening skills.
5. It expands the chain of knowledge, from learning about colors and shapes to having interest in subjects like art, which can then lead to exploring painting and other art forms.
6. Interactive reading is known to increase a child’s IQ by up to 6 points.
It comes as no surprise that parents try their best and learn how to help a child struggling with reading so the above effects can be achieved.
However, reading does not only affect a child intellectually. There are also behavioral effects that children’s guardians would love to experience.
Effects of Reading to a Child’s Behavior and Attention
1. It shapes their social and emotional development way more than learning language and academics.
2. It helps prevent or reduce problems with aggression, hyperactivity and attention difficulties.
3. It makes kids happier thereby reducing behavioral problems.
4. It allows children to feel what storybook characters feel and help develop empathy.
5. They learn how to better control their behavior by using the words they hear.
6. It improves thinking skills and read more teaches the basics of right and wrong.
7. It calms children and increases their attention span.
You will definitely want to learn how to help a child with reading difficulties if you want your kids to experience the above. Countless studies have been done to prove those effects. Specifically, the Video Interaction Project, which was originally developed in 1998 but is still being studied extensively today revealed these results:
3-year-olds who received the videotape intervention improved their behavior by becoming less aggressive or hyperactive than 3-year-olds in the control group.
The effects of the study persisted after a year and a half.
Some children exhibited increased dose-response effects leading to a positive impact on their behavior.
We all know how kids, especially toddlers, can be the little monsters that parents dread having to face. If you haven’t heard of the “terrible twos†then you are in for a big surprise when you have children and they turn 2 years old.
Fortunately, you can tone your little rascals down and help them control their emotions and actions simply by reading to them and joining them in playing. As amazing as it is, the effects of reading on child development is no surprise.
Now, get those children’s books off your shelves and start storytelling. You can get Helen G’s books to share with your little ones, too.
Check out these fun stories from Helen G now!