Chances are that your affection for words began in your childhood, when reading was paired with security, warmth, and significant adults. It is difficult for those of us with fond memories of stories and books to truly understand what it would be like to grow up without them. Unfortunately, many children are missing this important factor in their overall language development because many adults either do not have those memories and experiences to draw from or do not fully appreciate the value of sharing them with children. Lacking this experience during childhood has been shown to have a measurable negative effect on later literacy development. Although a focus on parent-child reading will definitely enrich the lives of children, the primary audience of this training is the adult learner.
Few forces drive adults more strongly than meeting the needs of their children.
Therefore, we suggest several strategies for enhancing literacy development in general. These strategies will assist adults in gaining proficiency with reading, writing, and listening and will be useful tools for working with young children in their care. With the focus on reading with children, the emphasis is shifted away from adults' lack of proficiency with literacy and is placed on helping develop strategies that will enable sharing in the literacy development of their own children, or children in their care. The materials and strategies presented in this handbook and accompanying workshop are those proven successful with young children in a variety of settings, including the home. Since they are focused on children, they are not as likely to be perceived as threatening and, since the emphasis is on learning the strategies in order to share with them as a child, they are less likely to be perceived as condescending.