Six Pre-Reading Skills Your Child Can Start Learning From Birth

Studies show that children are ready to read years before they start school. Helping your baby or toddler learn literacy skills now will help ensure success in school. The following are six important reading-readiness skills your child can begin learning from birth.

Print Motivation: being interested in and enjoying books
Vocabulary: knowing the names of things
Narrative Skills: being able to describe things, events, and to tell stories
Phonoligical 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 words on a page

*As promoted by the Early Literacy Initiative Public Library Association and Association for Library Service to Children