Collaborate with local adult education and job skill programs to assist parents who want to enhance their own skill levels. Do not make assumptions about a family's ability to assist their child's literacy development based on socioeconomic status. Rather than focusing on changing the values, beliefs, and behaviors of families, build upon what families can contribute to their children's literacy. Work with families and community partners to develop intergenerational learning programs that honor the languages, cultures, and experiences of families, as well as help students' family members address the issues they face in their own lives. Important Research Findings Literacy begins at birth.
Families create a vital foundation for literacy from the beginning of a child's life.
Scientists are gaining increasingly detailed knowledge about how the brains of infants and children develop. More neural connections form during infancy than at any other time of life. Infant's neural systems can be dramatically altered by environmental factors, such as poor nutrition and stress. Development of motor skills, play, and social relationships all influence an infant's later success in reading. Parent involvement makes a difference.