Literacy For Tykes

Expanding Pilot Program to More Area Headstarts

2011-03-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

Due to cooperation of Infant and Toddler Connection/Heartland (VA) and the Education Director of HOPE Headstarts, Literacy for Tykes has been able to meet current needs of Infant and Toddlers Connection and expand to two new counties of HOPE Headstarts.

All educational and human service organizations know that the only way we are going to optimize our reach to at-risk families in these financially recessionary times is through careful thought and cooperation.

Literacy for Tykes salutes our partners in our Books for Families project for helping us reach more families with at-risk early children, in time to make a difference before kindergarten.

Parents who had difficult literacy experiences themselves are encouraged and equipped to read picture books with their children in the important formative years, 1-4 years. Having positive and enjoyable book sharing time allows both the parents and their children to discover that books can be fun.

When a child comes to the kindergarten group school experience knowing "We have fun reading books at my home", they a primed and enthusiastic to take the next steps in the lifelong progression of literacy adventures ahead of them.

As the pieces fit into place to reach now over 400 families, we are happy to salute our partner organizations including Piedmont Healthy Families; HOPE Headstarts, Infant and Toddler Connections/Heartland, also made possible in large part by grants from target.
Many community individuals and civic organizations in 3 of the 9 counties these partners serve have been backing Literacy for Tykes, hoping we could continue persevering to bring Books for Families to the most needy at-risk homes of pre-schoolers in their counties.
The most notable contributors have been in Buckingham County, Cumberland County and Prince Edward County.

Therefore Literacy for Tykes is proud to announce that HOPE HEADSTARTS is now able to distribute our Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures books and supplemental "Enjoy Books with Children" parents tip sheets to families in those 3 counties in this current school year.

This expansion is due to the tremendous Results Reports from the Prince Edward Pilot Program, and the cooperation of our partners to allow for appropriate redistribution of available books.

Piedmont Healthy Families is continuing to make LFT books and materials available to the families it serves in 7 Heartland Virginia counties, including Buckingham, Prince Edward and Cumberland Counties. Infant and Toddler Connection is also making LFT books available to meet the literacy needs of families they serve in 7 Heartland Virgina counties , also including Buckingham, Prince Edward and Cumberland Counties.

Literacy for Tykes is currently seeking funding for 2011-2012 school year to expand "Books for Families" to all nine Heartland Virginia counties, as well as continue to meet the needs of our current partners who have a fresh group of families with each year.

To aid Literacy for Tykes to expand our BOOKS FOR FAMILIES program in 2011 please use the main website button at right side of this page. Our website www.LiteracyForTykes.com has a paypal button which allows for credit card contribution.

Literacy for TYkes Third Year as Public Charity is off to a Head Start

2011-01-29T12:56:00.000-08:00

Literacy for Tykes has begun its third year as a 501 C3 Public Charity, equipping and encouraging parents to bring literacy to their early children.

We are off to a Head Start because we just received our Results Report from our Head Start Pilot Program.

Parents gained more confidence by being more involved while reading with their child.
The book gave parents specific instructions; and power points held the children's attention.
75% of parents used these power points called "Parent Points" in the book Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures. These points bring up specific learning points of the picture , and the children seemed more interested because these same points were mentioned each time.
Parents liked reading with their child , as quality time spent together before bedtime.
Our "Enjoy Books with Children" Parent Tip Sheets were discussed during each Headstart Parent Meeting.
As a result, over 85% of parents followed the recommendation to make the reading area quiet with a minimum of distractions.
The observation was made that progress was made in parent/child interactions.
Their attention spans grew and they took more interest in predicting what was next in the story and its outcome.
This group of parents in Heartland Virginia had no books in the house previous to this project and had not previously read to their children.
Since our books and materials are proving to bring positive results with reading time and frequency well above our success matrix, we are encouraged to seek funding for all 9 counties of this rural Virginia Headstart area, where low literacy and high dropout rates have been both perennial and increasing.
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To help make this possible, go to www.LiteracyForTykes.com with PayPal Button:
see Main Website link at right side of this page.
Be a part of a better future where reading can be fun.

This "Books for Families" project is repeatable and transplantable to any area where child literacy, family literacy and school readiness are concerns: info@www.literacyfortykes.com

Make a Difference to a Child's Future Now

2010-10-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

Our Results Reports show that parents can learn to use step-by-step guidelines to make reading a picture book a fun experience with their child. Sharing specific learning points , like naming face parts on the picture, helping your child point to them as you name them and even point to their own corresponding face parts, can make books come alive.

This parent interaction with books is often something that parents themselves missed in their pre-kindergarten years. Often those parents did not have an easy time of literacy, reading and vocabulary, when they did get in a classroom setting.

The feeling that they were behind other children before they even got to school left them feeling that they did not belong in school; that school was not for them. This sense that non-school activities were more "for them" than school often leads to early drop out, and early divergent entrepreneurship ( illegal ways of making money).

Another popular distraction from parent-child book time together is the current fascination with electronic games, and media. Many homes will not have a book, but will have a radio, a TV, even several electronic games and possibly even a few "track phones", or even highly sophisticated hand -held devices. Time spent on such devices actually takes the parent 's attention away from the real time experiences they could be having with their child. The common answer to those parental preoccupations is to have TV on with child programming to entertain the little ones.

Current research has shown a 4 year old's vocabulary to be fewer words if they spend a lot of daily time viewing screens such as TV or computer screen, and hand held devices. The 4 year old's vocabulary of words they know and understand is considerably larger if the parent spends time talking with their child directly and reading out loud with them. For every hour of screen time the child's vocabulary is smaller; for every hour of conversation and reading aloud together the child's vocabulary is larger.

Children learn best from a real live human being, especially one they know and trust. A child uses all their senses to learn how to live and do things like you, but they need to learn basic life skills first, and build upon them. Many adults do not value all the basic life skills they have and could pass on to their child with simple demonstration.

How do you brush your teeth? Show your child and give them a tooth brush of an appropriate size for their development , and, typically, they will imitate you . Say "Yay" with a big smile on your face every time a child does something you like and your child will tend to repeat the action, and eventually learn to say "Yay" too.
A child has a built-in copy-cat skill to learn survival skills, much like a kitty, puppy, or baby bird. When a parent shows that food tastes good and says "Mmmm", a child tends too wants to eat it too.

If parents simply take the time to clearly demonstrate a desirable behavior, a child tends to learn it, just as he or she hears and sees it done. What they cannot learn is what goes on behind the scenes, or why the moving colors on a screen move a certain way. They cannot directly imitate those movements of the flat screen, so they may be fascinated by the colors and sounds, but cannot correlate them with their daily life.

Only an extreme genius IQ toddler could have the unusually high abstract reasoning to "get it" that the red octagonal shape on Sesame Street or the Electric Company TV show that was associated with some disembodied voice saying "Stop" has anything to do with the object they see every time you stop the car at the corner.

You can make a difference to a child, especially your own child who takes cues from you on everything she or he sees you do. Smiling, touching, loving; eating anything more advanced than just sucking from a bottle; cleanliness such as poo-poo is not a good thing to play with or have around any longer than necessary. These are basic level life skills that you naturally show them.

Talk with your child , naming things around you both such as : cup, sippy, spoon, food, shoe, sock, diaper, shirt, pants. Even concepts can creep into conversation early on, like: okay, soon, food is coming; Time for bed; we are leaving in 5 minutes, get ready; Here's you coat; Let Mommy help. Let's read a book.

Visual Literacy is sharing your names for picture parts with your child. Simple words you know are words a child still needs to learn. Parts of faces and bodies can be learned directly and again in a picture book format. Animals can be seen in a zoo, or as pets in your home ; or in a visit to a farm, and your can read about them in a book as well.

Simply associating your word sounds consistently with a picture in a book, teaches them the value of printed symbols, even before letters and printed words are introduced. This Visual Literacy is an important step that should not be skipped or underestimated in the progress toward school readiness, life readiness ( much like we need to crawl before we walk, and even later run).

Your child needs your help to bridge the gap between the real object world they usually explore, and the flat representations of those objects in books first. Later the magic of electronics can be introduced , only after you, as a real life trusted human being, have shown the value of symbols in books. Printed pictures that you show them with some interest and enthusiasm, brings enough meaning to a child to consider imitating the book experience.
Picture books open the door to print in books that you and teachers can later carefully share.

Sounds are of great interest , especially the sounds a child hears their loved one say. You can make a difference, with a little attention, sharing what you already know with your pre-kindergarten child. As they bring what they have already learned to the classroom experience, they feel more confident and that they belong there and can succeed.

Its like being asked to play a game that they already have played and they know the rules. They are more confident that they can succeed. In this way your child's whole future opens up in a positive way, because you have taken a little time each day to share what you know with them.

Enjoy each moment with you child. They grow very quickly , whether it feels like it or not at the time. Instead of thinking of it as 5 long years before kindergarten, think of it as a very short time you have to pass on what you know, in a way they can easily understand, about the basics of life. Prepare them to feel confident, so they can make the most of their future.

Family Literacy starts with "Books for Families"

2010-08-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

Literacy for Tykes is launching its second year of early child literacy partnership with Piedmont Healthy Families and Infant & Toddler Connection /Heartland. We even found a way to include a pilot program with a local "Headstart". All this has been greatly helped by two consecutive years of grants from TARGET.

We found from our Results Reports that many parents here in the USA are reluctant readers who were not read to as children. These parents need and benefit from specific help to learn how to read to their 1-5 year old children. Specific step-by-step guidelines can teach basic techniques of sharing picture points with their children. This fun with pictures is the basic building block of literacy called "Visual Literacy".

Reluctant parents thought they could not read with their child and became willing to try the Literacy for Tykes program for the sake of their child. They followed the step-by-step guidelines in Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures called "Parents Points". These parents said they were surprised to see that their children enjoyed reading with them. Parents felt equipped at this starting level to continue this as a valuable parent/child activity on a regular basis.

Teenage parents gained confidence to read and have fun with books sometimes for the first time in their own lives. Starting at the Visual Literacy level, basic concepts are learn-able. Even parents of children with special needs like Autism, Down Syndrome, Hearing and Sight Loss said they learned techniques to share picture books and these guidelines allowed their children to be more interactive. They had more fun together!!

Literacy for Tykes encourages parents, with parent tip sheets called "Enjoy Books with Children", to read with their child in ever increasing time segments, as the child's interest naturally increases. When they are enjoying the time with their parents, the children want to increase both frequency and their attention per session stays longer. Gradually we hope the parents to read 20 minutes a day with their child. We have seen families well on their way to that goal in as little as four months with these books.

Children feel the fun. If I may quote Piglet from Winnie the Pooh " How do you spell love? and Pooh answered"You don't spell it . You feel it." The children feel the love through the time spent together with their parents. Love and reading become intermixed and both parents and children open up to the world of books. "Create a joyful experience, regardless of the age of your child."- kidsbestlife.

The purpose of education is to equip and encourage especially those marginalized citizens to build a better life. For the sake of their children, many parents are re-starting their own troubled literacy journey and find the fun of reading books through their child's loving eyes.
These previously at-risk children are given the best possible reading encouragement in the loving atmosphere of their homes. This is the best start a young pre-schooler can have to develop confidence, positive learning skills and attitude to build a better life.

If you would like to find out more about our "Books for Families" Phase 2 project, follow the link at the right of this page to www.LiteracyForTykes.com (Home Website). Thanks again to TARGET for their continued generous support. Perhaps you too can help more preschoolers' families experience this positive fresh start with books and learning together.

"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person"- Mother Teresa.

Loving Life with Child = Creating Literacy Skills

2010-06-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Summer is a great time for loving life with your child. As adults we benefit tremendously by allowing ourselves to take a break from routines and schedules to include time to enjoy life around us. We are often motivated to do this for the sake of our children. Yet all find a release from pressures when we ease into the kid's point of view. 'Eeyore' is quoted as saying "Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them" (A.A.Milne). Open yourself to a fresh take on life.

Let your children have a time without screens: TV, computer, computerized chip-driven toys.
Those things amuse them, but human children learn about life from human adults and older siblings. Do you have non-screen time with your child?

Martin H. Fischer once said "Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth." We all have the tickets to the show. "Knowing is not enough ; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.", said Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. Do it together with your child> enjoy the show of life together.

Be daring! Turn off your iPods, iPads, Smart Phones, and look around. There are parks, libraries, picnic areas to be visited for free. Sometimes we overlook possibilities in our own backyard.
On a dry weather day, get together any big empty card board boxes. Remove all staples and help your child create a pretend house. Add a simple play blanket, or large scarves and a few pots & pans for props. "Pretend" is great fun and very language and imagination building.
You can even bring out a small play table, bread and cheese and apples for lunch by or in the playhouse. Try water in refillable stainless steel water bottles or sippy cups for beverage.
After lunch you can share a picture book together outside by the playhouse, or indoors if its naptime.

Another idea is take pictures of your children acting out their pretend life in the pretend house, for "make your own picture book" fun on a rainy day.
You can use any notebook, with your child: glue in the photos one per page; and talk about what was happening in the picture. Let your child hear you say a few words as you write them down near each picture in easy-to-read print. After the words are printed, point to each word as you read them out loud with your child. Point to the parts of the picture your words describe. Help your child point at these parts too.You have created your own picture book that's sure to become a new favorite to read with your child again and again.

If you have a few tasks around the house that need to be done, adopt the "Work Together- Play Together" idea. First fold the clothes together with your child ( or another simple task that needs to be done), and decide where or what you want to do for the "Play Together" part. Once your child experiences that the play with you does follow the work with you, the whole thing becomes fun. Start with toddlers/ pre-schoolers. It helps them learn to follow simple directions, and you will see that your child loves doing things with you.
Your chores get done; you both feel you have accomplished something together; and even your adult side feels better about taking the break for childlike play together .

Remember the importance of a close, caring relationship between you and your children for learning, reading and enjoying life together. Heart-centered book fun creates love of learning about life, and love of reading. Beyond pursuit of happiness, we need to find these moments to simply BE happy together.
Warm hearts+ loving moments shared= bright memories+ life (literacy) skills for your child.

Important Joy of Parenting

2010-05-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

Important Joy of Parenting
Facing the enormous responsibility of caring for an infant whose brain grows 175% in the first year, can be balanced by the sheer joy of holding this fascinating new person in your arms. What are we supposed to feed this baby to help healthy growth ? How do we treat this person who has a very distinct set of demands? How do we understand the changing needs of baby?

Baby has come to learn and be loved. Baby needs nurturing. Books and organizations exist that emphasize the physical and emotional needs of physical closeness to you and those significant and consistent people you chose to care for your baby. As baby experiences each moment of this new life, new brain cells are made, new neural pathways are created. Every gesture you make , every mouthful of food you give, every word you speak is stored away in an ever increasing network of information.

Your baby learns about life from you and other significant care providers: how to eat, how to smile, how to communicate, how to love, how to enjoy, how to learn. All waking time in the first year would optimally be with a real live person. This gives baby maximum input of how humans live their lives. So many fine nuances of behavior that you may take for granted are learned just by baby seeing you, hearing you, feeling you with him/her. Baby catalogs everything away as life knowledge. As soon as possible, baby will imitate whatever you have shown him/her.

Here comes the joy part. What are you showing your baby? What will get hard wired in his little growing brain as the things to try to mimic? Instead of having baby be an escort in your adult, high tech hard to mimic world, how about you learning about the simple unplugged joys of life again? Hugs and kisses are at the top of the list. Taking time to talk to baby, and repeat his/her babbling back are second. This is your chance to unwind from the high tech web you can easily get caught in today, and remember what it is to simply appreciate the moment, starting with your littlest person.

As you learn to see what baby sees, a simple game of Peek-A-Boo can be great fun. You can spontaneously make up a simple song or rhyme to say to baby. No problem with a critical audience there. Baby accepts whatever you say a good. Baby learns everything from you. And when baby shows interest in the cute wall decorations you put up over his changing table share the joy of the moment. Let yourself express and feel that simple pleasure with your child.

This shared time together is the bond that gives your child life teachings and early skill development. From this simple shared appreciation of all that is around baby you become his best teacher for all life. This special relationship can be with several people who baby sees regularly; Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother, Grandma, Grandpa, and a regular Care Provider. You all become life coaches for baby, people he/she can trust to learn "the plays of the game".

Find the simple fun of exploring baby's little world with him/her, then you can think of simple fun things to expand what baby sees and learns. As baby grows and sits up , name out loud the objects you are using around or with him/her; examples: blanket, spoon, cereal, cup, juice, bowl, table, kitchen, crib, bed, diaper, drink, diaper, bath, water, ducky. You will naturally expand to 2 words phrases like: "wash hair", "food's coming", "sleep time", "get dressed", "change diaper", "let's go". This basic language play is important and seeing baby gradually catch on can be a source of parental joy.

As baby becomes toddler, you will have many opportunities to enjoy simple pleasures with him/her: Autumn leaves, winter snow, spring flowers, summer walks. Art projects can be finger painting on a drop cloth, graduating to washable markers. Later you can make a stamp out of a raw potato half, press it in the finger paint and press designs onto paper.

As a toddler, art and language fun can easily grow into sharing simple picture books with your child. It becomes a natural outgrowth of your earlier shared fun times to point at a nose in a picture and then point at your child's nose, saying "Nose" both times. Later on, you can point to words, then picture, saying the word both times. Pick books with art you will enjoy because your child will love to share the fun of the same book many times over. Include outings to the library, children's playground, and simple picnics. Then you will be well along the way of the Important Joy of Parenting.

Reading Can Be Fun: Library Time

2010-04-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Reading Can Be Fun! Have you ever thought of your area Library as a great spot for parent/child fun time? Library Time can open up many possible books for you to explore together. It's a great way to introduce your child to how many different story and picture books there are. You can dive into colorful books designed specifically for early children, and while there, show your child a few books you might share together in the future.

You might go to the early books and say "We can pick 2 books from this shelf today. Let's look and see which ones we want to take home with us." Help your child look at a few pages of any books that catch the eye. Most children's sections have reading areas, where you can sit together cuddly close for a test reading of a page or two.

Then show your child what number of books you can take each time and how you have to check them out at the front desk. Also mention you need to take very good care of the books because they belong to the library, and you will be returning them in 2 weeks (or whatever time frame your library has).

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has made a clear statement about young children spending a lot of time in front of electronic screens: TVs, computers, movies in the car or at home, even hand held devices. "The AAP strongly discourages television viewing for children ages two years old or younger, and encourages interactive play. For older children, the Academy advises no more than one to two hours per day of educational, nonviolent programs, supervised by parents or another responsible adult chosen by the parents."

An alternative to screen time, is real interaction. Screen experiences actually act against a child learning skills for real life. Parents, older siblings and care providers model actions and attitudes that early children mimic, word for word, gesture for gesture. If Dad loves to wear his sun glasses, his little child may love to wear them too. If mom reads a book, then her child will mimic reading even before they understand how to read. Human children learn real-time behavior from human beings.

Let's make a point to turn off the TV and movies that amuse our children as temporary diversions, and make it a regular practice to have reading time together. When you can have an outing, make a regular plan to go to the Library together. Remember to pick out something for yourself too. If you don't have a lot of time to read yourself, remember short stories, and books of inspirational sayings. Poetry comes in all flavors and most poetry books have many short poems, perfect for a quick mental break.

Also many public libraries are near children's play parks, so some physical activity can be planned into the library adventure as well. Remember, Reading Can Be Fun for a lifetime!

How to Reach Your Young Child Through 4 Sense Keys | Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

2010-04-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

How to Reach Your Young Child Through 4 Sense Keys | Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

Love Equips & Encourages Learning & Reading

2010-03-31T10:16:00.000-07:00

Love is caring and being aware of needs. Love of self sheds light on our own needs; love of others sheds light on others needs. One of our greatest needs as humans is to care for another. That's why solitary people are encouraged to have a pet.

For those of us who have children, or are relatives or neighbors of children, we can love them enough to look at their needs. Service is love in action. Many of us relate to being of service, such as Rotary Clubs, Woman's Clubs, and the best intentions of Chambers of Commerce. More groups and individuals are becoming aware of the unmet needs of a very high percentage of at-risk children.

The first time these children tend to show up in statistics is kindergarten assessments. State of Minnesota Department of Education runs an annual survey of kindergartners who are at-risk to fail, not at age proficiency in literacy developmental skills. In 2007 it was 53%; in 2008 it was 56% of kindergartners at-risk to fail.

Southern Early Childhood Association estimates 3 million children in 14 SE states are in this at-risk to fail demographic. It works out to 12 million nationally.For the state of Virginia the estimate is 250,000 kindergartners are at-risk to fail in the area of literacy development.

There is one factor that these children have in common. No books in their homes suitable for children. Also studies have shown their parents don't read to them. What if I told you there is an action plan with books and materials identified that can equip and encourage these parents interest in reading to their toddlers to 4 year olds?

Often these parents were not read to themselves, when they were young children. They probably had some difficulties in school because of that and the whole subject of literacy is not their favorite. Many of them lack confidence that they can be their child's first teacher. Many don't think they know how to start their child off with an understanding of books. Many are of poverty level or low income level with paying the rent and getting food for their family leaving them tired , stressed and overwhelmed.

Literacy for Tykes a solution based non profit organization equips, encourages and empowers parents to bring literacy to their early children's development.

With loving awareness of parents caught between lack of early literacy experiences themselves and high stress of hard economic times, LFT makes available an engaging picture book Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures, with step-by-step parent guidelines to share learning points of pictures with their early child.

"Enjoy Books With Children" is also a parent tip sheet that we supply to our many educational and human service partners to encourage the parents they serve. Practical insights help parents understand how little time and effort it takes to meet the visual literacy first-step needs of their little ones. How to enjoy picture book reading for increasing minutes a day is mapped out. The step of eliminating distractions in the room such as TV, music, computers, cell phones and other activities is explained. Simple techniques of meeting their child at their interest and attention level are given.

Our results reports for parents using Literacy for Tykes books and materials are very encouraging, that our loving concern for parents is helping them gain confidence and interest that they can read to their child of ages 1-5years. These parents report that their children are showing interest in reading these picture books. Minutes spent reading together is increasing even beyond our success metrics for this stage of the home-reading program.

Literacy for Tykes is also gratified that local community groups are showing concerned interest as they hear our presentations and become aware of the early child literacy need in their communities. Several such service groups are carefully looking at how they can support this outreach of love for our little ones and their parents.

Out of love and concern, Literacy for Tykes' president Nancy Cloyd is asking friends to rally together and give donations at www.LiteracyForTykes.com in honor of her upcoming April 64th birthday. Please be part of this birthday wish for love to manifest as support, to equip and encourage learning and reading for the most needy.

These birthday candles could brighten the future of many at-risk children, for many years to come. Give support and light another candle of Love.

See link on right side of this page: Literacy for Tykes Main Website

Special Needs Toddlers Results Report

2010-03-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

Literacy for Tykes is delighted to receive Partner Results Reports from Infant and Toddler Connections with whom we partner on our Early Child Literacy Program. This partner is dedicated to serving children with special needs from birth through age 3 years. The specific special needs are related to developmental delays, autism, hearing loss, speech delays, and Down Syndrome.

The assistant director said,"Parents appear to be spending more time reading with their children. They are using the 'Parent Points' (from Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures and Enjoy Books with Children) even when reading other books, making reading time more involved and having positive interaction."

Four months into our Early Child Literacy Program parents are reading more frequently and for longer time periods with their children with special needs. 80% state they appreciate Literacy for Tykes book and materials. and have expressed how helpful the "Parent Points" have been in making reading time more interactive. These step-by-step parent guidelines are offered throughout Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures giving specific applications of 'Enjoy Books with Children" concepts, reaching the children through sight, sound, touch and action.

Parents gained confidence that they could read more successfully to their children with special needs. These parents have gained more interest in reading with their children and stated, "It was helpful to use the 'Parent Points' while reading with their child. Also 75% of parents came to understand and comply with making the reading area quiet, with minimum distractions, as suggested in "Enjoy Books with Children", our parent tip sheet.

Infant & Toddler Connection reported the children all increased in ability to relate to a book, appropriate to their age and developmental positioning. We are very gratified to receive this report with such positive results of equipping and encouraging parents for their more successful and more enjoyable interaction with their precious babies and toddlers.

We salute the dedication of the staff of Infant & Toddler Connection associated with Longwood (University) Center for Language, Literacy and Communication (LCLLC), and are proud to join them in their efforts to encourage parents and strengthen family ties to brighten their children's early years and future potential.

To support this and other Literacy for Tykes programs and make a difference in empowering parents to bring positive literacy progress to meet the needs of the early children,
see Literacy for Tykes Main Website Link on the right side of this page or go to www.LiteracyForTykes.com

4 Keys to Prep Your Toddler for K & Life Success

2010-03-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

How can you most effectively reach your toddler-to-four-year-old to prepare for Kindergarten and life success? Be aware of how a young child learns everything about life. The senses are the keys to unlock your ability to reach your child's developing mind.

The most basic senses of taste, sucking, feeding and getting his physical comfort met are always present and need to be satisfied first. Then we need to focus on the 4 sense keys of Sight, Sound, Touch, Doing.

Before inviting your child into a desirable learning activity, see that all distractions are eliminated or minimized in the area of sight, sound, touch and doing (or activity). Turn off the TV, Radio, Music, Computer. Find a place with enough light but not too much, enough heat but not too much, and without other activities.

Sharing a picture book is a fun and very important activity for preparing your child for Kindergarten. Choose a book that has clear and engaging images without distracting backgrounds, so that you and your child may focus easily on one image per page. See Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures sample pages on amazon.com. Also, you could cut images out of a magazine and paste them on a blank piece of paper, one image per page, to create such an image without distracting background.

When you invite your child to participate in an activity with you, like reading a picture book together, focus on the 4 key areas again:
Sight= Your Facial Expression. Children watch your facial expression to know your attitude toward them and toward what you are doing. Be positive. Smile.
Sound=Your Tone of Voice. Children hear your tone of voice to know how you feel about them and what you are doing. Be enthusiastic. Have fun. " Let's read this book together.
Touch=Your Touch. Children are comforted calmed and brought to full receptivity by your cuddly loving touch. Learning neural pathways are opened to receive who you are, what you have to say, and what you show them, especially if you are their mom or a consistent care provider. You've established a trusted place in their awareness. Be loving. This is your together moment.
Doing=Your Actions Bring your child to your lap. You have their attention. Your child wants to learn everything you do. Show the book cover and read the title to them.

In the reading process, again use the 4 key areas to reach your child:
Sight=What You Are Showing Your Child Your child may think you are "reading the pictures". That's ok. They are actively trying to make sense out of what you are showing them on this flat page.
Sound=Speak Clearly With a Smile in Your Voice. Use simple words to name the object on the page. Make the sound associated with it (if any). Your child is correlating the sound you make consistently with the image you show them. If you repeat this sound /picture experience 20 days they will learn to say the sound with the picture, as is appropriate to there age and stage of development. If the picture is of a cat, say"cat", and say"meow".
Touch=Hold Your Child on Your Lap. Your child is most comfortable and aware of what you are showing him or her when touching your body. Have him cuddle next to you if not in your lap.
Doing=Help Your Child Point at the Parts You are Describing. If the picture is of a cat, say "ear" and help your child point to the cat's ear in the picture. Bring the action back to your child's natural sense realm and point to child's ear and say "ear". I also like to have a reward at the end of shared book time together. The last picture to be shared in my book Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures is of a cup, and I suggest to have a cup of something your child likes ready to give at the end , as you say,"You've done such a good job reading.Would you like your cup?" The reward also ties the pictured cup back into the child's sense realm of their own cup.

By using these 4 keys you can have an enjoyable time with your child and bring the world of books to life for them. By doing this fun activity, as close to daily as possible, you are getting your child off to a great start toward Kindergarten readiness, with more confidence and learning skills that will benefit them for lifelong success.

(Note: if your child does not relate to 4 keys interaction by age 3 years seek advise of your pediatrician. Also, see www.firstsigns.org )

These are part of the reading techniques we use successfully with our home-reading program.
see "Literacy For Tykes Main Website" link on the right of this page to see more about our work.

Literacy for Tykes is a 501(c)(3)
Nonprofit Public Charity.
All donations are tax-deductible.

Early Child Literacy Partnership Results Report

2010-02-19T09:20:00.000-08:00

Partners of our Early Child Literacy program who started families they serve in our home reading program in 2009 are now reporting results of their at-risk families.

These parents are poverty-low income level, usually with low interest in literacy. Their children are the demographic that becomes at-risk to fail in Kindergarten, stay 2 years behind age mates throughout school and are 3 to 4 times more likely to drop out of school before graduation.
After only 4 months following the parent tips given in "Enjoy Books with Children" presented by their home visitors to them, there has been a transformation.

These parents have children from Infant through five years old. "Some parents were very hesitant about reading in the beginning but once they started they began to realize that they could read with their child. Mothers began to see the interest shown by their children and found it a great source of parent/child activity.", the director of a family service shared.

Starting at age 1 year old parents reading Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures with their child saw an increase in the child's ability to relate to a book. This study group had children ranging up to 5 years old, with the largest age concentration 2-4years old.

Most of these parents now read 5 times a week, for an average of 9-12 minutes a day, which exceeds the success metrics for four months into the program. 85% liked reading this book with their child with at least 90% using the "Parents Points" step-by-step guidelines.

This program continues with a second results report at 8 months into the program. Literacy for Tykes hopes these new reading habits will become a welcome part of everyday life for these families. At the end of our year-long program, we encourage parents to get library cards at regional libraries to continue their exploration of the wonderful world of books.

We are delighted with the results of this study group which exceeds our expectations. The first long-range goal of Early Child Literacy Partnership is to create confidence and interest in parents that reading daily to their child for 20 minutes a day is do-able and beneficial and FUN. The second long-range goal is that this parent/child interaction will nurture visual literacy skills and lifelong learning skills, as well as social skills that will better prepare each child for kindergarten and life success.

Based on these successful results we would like to expand this Early Child Literacy Program to nine counties at the 4 year old level for other at-risk poverty-low income level families in rural Virginia, as well as continue to supply books and materials to current partners. Literacy is a perennial issue in this region. We believe this program is repeatable with most at-risk populations.

To support this program please use Literacy for Tykes Main Website Link on the right side of this page which will take you to our Paypal button on www.LiteracyForTykes.com

Beyond Equality: Unlock Your Personal Power

2010-02-12T08:25:00.000-08:00

Current parents have inherited the drive to find equality from their parents. A long-standing foment of women's rights upset the status-quo significantly some fifty years ago. Though women had long since gained the right to vote, bra-burning Women's Liberation movement wanted a complete overhaul of gender role definition.
I was a 18 yrs old at the time, and have observed and lived through much of the aftermath of the gender revolution.
The basic problem with the stance of gender revolt is you start with the idea "I am not being treated as equal to others (men)." The question became "What do I have to do to be treated equally?" The answer that many women chose in the late 60's early 70's was to leave the primary place of homemaker and get a job. This was not always a well thought out process. Oftentimes the jobs available for the training a woman had then were low-paying. The children she had at home still needed to be cared for, and frequently after the free relatives got burnt out, the cost of a babysitter used up what was left after expense of work clothes, lunches and transportation to job.

Yet many women felt driven to prove their equality to men, in the work place. That said, childcare was not even an industry yet. Who took care of the children was based on availability and affordability; not ability and accountability. The thinking of the time was nurturing children was something any woman could do naturally, and was second-rate to the imagined status a woman could attain in the "promised land" of the work world. Little thought was given to the quality of care the children received: "Park them with someone who was willing to watch them".

As a result, many children then did not receive some of the basic early child education that we look for today. The irony is that those same children of yesteryear are the parents of today's children. Some of these many parents are frustrated, caught between today's research that demands their parenting interaction and the deficits they may still face because they had not received that level of parental interaction themselves.

A specific example is early child reading (literacy) : Today it is well-understood through years of educational research, that where many dropouts were neglected comes back to their early years. No books in the home is one thing they have in common. This implies that their parents had little interest in reading also. This can be traced back to the previous generation of parents who spent little time reading to them when they were children, and babysitters who did not see themselves as educators either. If they did not have the recommended lap-reading before kindergarten, these parents of today may have struggled themselves with literacy when they were in school. As a result, reading would not be their favorite thing. They would not feel confident that they knew enough about reading to introduce it to their child. They would disconnect from literacy as important. Somehow they "made it" without all that, so would their Aston or Tiffany.

Another look at early child research can give a key to unlock this trap, that even parents who don't regard themselves as educators do have the power to help their babies and toddlers develop lifelong learning skills for a brighter future. Though they may have had to struggle through school when they were younger themselves, they would be surprised how easy it is to share a picture book with their child. Research shows that as little as 20 minutes a day, sharing the characteristics of pictures in a book with a child, in a cuddly happy way, can give that child many kinds of preparation and nurture needed.

See Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures by Nancy Cloyd on amazon.com/books/children for simple guidelines (for parents with tired brains) as how to share a pleasant nurturing quality time with toddlers and up. On that website, you can sample the pages of the book to see this simple method. When followed in a loving happy way, "reading pictures" with their child 20 minutes a day is the key. Recommend it to any reluctant-to- read parents you know to get them started. They can unlock their personal power to make life better for their child.

Plea to Decision Makers: At Least Maintain Early Child Ed We Now Have!

2010-02-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

Our country is feeling the trickle-down impact of extended financial recession. In the last week, we are told by President on down to states and local school systems that the only thing they know for sure is we have less money to fund everything. Our school superintendents use generalizations and categories to vaguely describe where cuts must be made. "We will work out the shortfalls of Fiscal Year 2010 and reduced budget of Fiscal Year 2011 together" said our local Superintendent. Was he trying to make the local board feel better because he is a team player?

Administrators administrate. Its consoling in a broad way to see in the newspaper that a team of administrators with various points of view, various takes on what works and what helps the teachers teach and the kids learn will be having long debates before deciding the fate of public education.

Teachers will have to comply with their decisions, with some losing their jobs. Beyond them, we are the public; our children or our neighbor's children will be the ultimate recipients of the administrators discernment. What will we still have for our kids? What will we lose?? It is a critical hour in the history of public education.

What do I want to say about public education's impact on early child education?
Headstart is a much beleaguered attempt to bring some education to the poorest children in our land. The theory of Headstart is solid. It has been suffering from inconsistent funding from on high, especially from 2000-2008. The theories of getting the parents involved as active partners in their 4 yr old's preparation for kindergarten is important. The directors and teachers of Headstarts often have found their good theories and excellent strategies thwarted by lack of funds in the past. We hear much about increasing support of them in the past year. But what now?

In many states there are State-Funded Pre-Kindergartens. These were established in response to the number of children who either exceeded the number of places in mandated Headstart class sizes, or whose families slightly exceeded the mandated income limit. These low income families also cannot afford any private educational helps for their children, but they come to pre-screen hoping that they will get into State-Funded Pre-K if not Headstart. They have not given their child the beginning education at home that they would like their child to have to prepare for kindergarten.

The directors and head teachers of these classes also know that parents need to be encouraged to be partners in their child's preparation for lifelong learning. They all know that learning is best started in the home. Yet even these well-meaning teachers best ideas and strategies have been limited by funding shortfalls in the past.

These publicly funded early child educators have been fighting the good fight to bring attention to the needs of our youngest citizens. They have been doing their best with funds that are made available to them. They have established contact with most of the low-income parents aware enough to seek help for their little ones. I believe they are one vital connection, to relieve the early literacy crisis that looms across our land, that we cannot afford to cutback.

Literacy for Tykes' work has been through various human service and educational services who have identified at-risk children. Headstarts and State-Funded Pre-Kindergartens have been two of the partner organizations who by their nature identify such needy families /children. The beauty of working with parents who have come to these groups is that the parents' interest self-selects them as caring enough to possibly follow through with books given them for home reading. Our fund raising has made available an excellent home-reading program to these educational groups that nicely complements what they are able to do with their funding. Our books and materials are completely in keeping with their philosophies of parent involvement.

We all know that home-language development and home-reading need to be the first learning experiences dictated by the way children really learn. For those parents who have not started home reading of pictures books on their own, these educational groups have been able to encourage them to do so. Our materials have found a workable distribution and continued use through the enthusiastic response of these educators and our other partners.

In summary, I am saying to all decision makers, please continue to fund both Headstarts and State-Funded Pre-Kindergartens. Look elsewhere to cut expenses. See my many other blogs to understand the whole picture of how vital it is to give every possible child the best start toward a life of learning and making a good life for themselves in the future. We all benefit.

Literacy Crisis in America Today

2010-01-26T08:45:00.000-08:00

There is a serious early child literacy crisis in America today: 50% of children who enter kindergarten are at-risk to fail. The percentage creeps upward every year, with some studies showing 56% in 2007. Southern Early Childhood Association estimates there are over 3 million kindergartners in 14 SE States, 12 million nationally, at-risk to fail in terms of literacy readiness.

The one thing these children are found to have in common is they have no books in their homes suitable for children. Oftentimes their parents also do not read books, though they often are capable of doing so. As you might guess, these children have not been read to. The idea of sitting with an adult and reading a picture book together is foreign to them.

These findings are tragic, especially when coupled with research as to why high school dropouts are increasing each year (now conservatively estimated as greater than 30% dropout before graduating.) What researchers have uncovered is that it all starts before kindergarten, with a lack exposure to books in the home. Such at-risk kindergartners are 3-4 times more likely to dropout according to educators’ research.

We can guess at reasons these young parents are so disinterested in reading: from difficulty with literacy themselves, greater interest on basic needs, to possibly absorbed with many personal interests. Also many parents assume that since they themselves are not trained educational experts, they will wait for the school teachers to educate their children.73% of adults polled in USA thought a child with no literacy skills who enters kindergarten is behind, but would “just catch up” in the next few years of school. However, studies show they stay 2 years behind their agemates throughout school.

The truth is researchers have found that our grandmothers' way of holding a young child on her lap and sharing the fun of a picture book with them is the very best method that synchronizes nicely with the way children really learn. Also an important point made in early child research is that they learn best from a trusted adult (parent, grandma, or regular care provider).

Neural systems development, sequences of grasping layers of significance of life around them, and emotional nurturing combine in an infant through three year old to create lifelong learning skills in the best possible way. The typical stages of active infant, toddlers (even up to early 4-yr-old) are optimal for early literacy exposure.

Another factor is to help the child learn sound/ object/ picture correlation, that pictures in books represent real objects, and the skill of pointing at the picture of the object named, and color names,before he or she is placed in a kindergarten classroom setting, where they are expected to know these things. Otherwise the at-risk children quickly realize that they do not know what the other children know, and assume school is not a place they belong.

Literacy for Tykes in-home reading program, with the help of our educational and human service partner organizations, can be the intervention needed to take the “at-risk" out of early childhood, while building family skills.

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Help Stop Depriving USA Children of Ability to Read

2010-01-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

We need to be the heroes for USA at-risk child literacy deprivation. We need rescue workers to reach every parent in every home where an at-risk child lives and intervene while there is still time. There is a destructive force running rampant in our land: children ignored and unhelped whose lives are severely damaged by lack of understanding of those near and far from them.
No buildings are collapsing on them, but precious windows of establishing learning skills often slam closed on them before they get help.
Many USA children today are left unhelped and become situationally disabled, at-risk to fail. Depriving children of the ability to read, and comprehend simple directions is a serious matter. Awareness of the deprivation and its lifelong handicap is an issue we need to address out of our compassion.
With all our work and awareness gained of the appalling situation, Literacy for Tykes is shocked that 73% of USA adults polled thought at-risk kindergartners who have had no exposure to books , or being read to, will "Just catch up" in following years of school. SECA (Southern Early Childhood Association) and other early child educators see at-risk Kindergartners stay 2 years behind their agemates throughout their school years, and JumpStart DC states that they are 3 to 4 times more likely to drop out of school before graduation. SECA goes on to say that this reading difficulty contributes to school dropout, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, crime and overpopulated prisons.

Roughly 12 million kids, birth through 5 years in USA grow up without books. SECA estimates 3 million of those are in 14 SE states. As high as 56% of kindergartners were at-risk to fail in literacy development in 2007 Minnesota Department of Education Survey, up from 50% in 2006.
These figures presented by well-established sources are alarming. The situation of the first five years of these children's lives renders them learning disabled.

Any attempts to remedy this condition are difficult after the age of 3-4 years. It is optimal to reach the child with introduction of simple skills before they enter a group class room experience where they are expected to know that pictures are representing real life objects, that sounds /words can correlate with specific pictures/objects, how to point at an object in a picture when it is named.

We believe many parents are disconnected from the power of their parental position to open up learning skills with their child. Many early child developmental studies show that the child learns best from their parent or other trusted adult (or older siblings). They do learn everything the parent or others show them, mimicking actions, learning what's expected to be part of the day's activities from what they see their life models do.

What are parents doing in the presence of their all-seeing little ones? What are care providers doing? We can think of many hurried, overloaded reasons for parents/care providers actions. Some such adults have never been read to when they were infant or toddlers. Some have "tired brains" with meeting daily schedules, doing all the "should"s or "want to"s. Maybe they don't even know that their little extremely conscious child is looking to them to figure out what's important in this life.

The irony is its takes just 20 minutes a day, following step-by-step guidelines, like those in Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures, to read to their child, hopefully without a lot of distracting noise and activity. One daily time that can be very relaxing and enjoyable for both parent and child is 20 minutes right before bed time.

We have a plan of action to get books/ materials out to homes through educational and human service organizations who have identified at-risk families/children. Many such partners are requesting books and materials to distribute to these homes. They are happy to encourage parents to look at the Parent Points format, and read to their children daily. After 4 months and 8 months the partners give feedback results reports, so we can ever improve program quality. The orgainztions themselves do not have the funds for this vital program to meet the need.

To invest in helping at-risk children and empowering their parents to create brighter futures for their children, go to Literacy for Tykes Main Website link listed on the right side of this page. We welcome you to be LiFT heroes and get needed resources to these USA at-risk children while it will do the most good.

Compassion: Awareness in Action

2010-01-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

Compassion is the word of the day with many people and nations giving any help they can to the life and death needs of thousands of people caught in destruction's path, on Haiti. Even if that island had little interest to most people before the tragic earthquake hit, few can ignore it now.
The suffering of the men, women and children calls out like a compelling wave of need.

Our feelings of sympathy are so encompassing that we must react. Setting aside normally pressing matters, we do all that we can to bring help to those caught in the vise of immediate need. Haitians' means to help themselves have been severely damaged anywhere near Port-au-Prince. Each child's scream tells of the minutes left to help that one.

Helpless without usual emergency gear, a translator with a news crew on the spot put his own life in danger to go into the rubble, crawl over dead bodies, to bring out a little toddler while she is still alive. Miraculously, both the hero and the precious little girl emerged from the heavy crumbled debris. She looked in shock, but soon responded to a familiar relative with a kiss on the cheek. Had the islander hero not acted with his compassion, the girl would probably have died by nightfall. Even the brave emergency workers accessed the situation as too dangerous to try. He said he had babies of his own, and "you do what you can do , even if it costs your own death, to help the babies when they cry out in danger".

Compassion is a selfless force that answers the call. When need is great and the threat is obvious, some of us hear the call and must dive into danger ourselves to help. Each person has needs that he or she will hear. Each person has their own level of ability to respond, differing assets to mobilize for help. Some have money they can send to others who have needed training and equipment to help. Some train just for such emergencies. Some have neither money nor training, but they send love and pray for best outcome for all concerned.

All of those reactions come from awareness, compassion for those in need. We celebrate the actions and prayers of all well-meaning people in this time of our neighbor's calamity. We wish all the little children could find adoptive homes and families. We hope some places can be found for all survivors as close to their cultural norm as possible. We pray for a special help to all those who are there in the dangerous situation to make the best out of life for those who survive. The need is overwhelming. May they find peace with doing whatever they can in such adverse circumstances.
Many there are grieving and in shock. The aftershocks of earthquake are still happening, so there is fear. Lack of food brings anger. I pray for help. I pray for grace to get what is needed to all survivors and all rescue workers, and news crews. All have a part in this life-threatening time and place. All deserve whatever our compassion and circumstance allows us to send.

In a few days, I will blog about a much more subtle destructive force that is easier to ignore, but nonetheless, running rampant in our land: children ignored and unhelped whose lives are severely damaged by that lack of understanding of those near and far from them. Many of our own children are left unhelped and become at-risk to fail, situationally disabled. We will look at how we can help them. Depriving children of the ability to read, and comprehend simple directions is a serious matter. Awareness of the deprivation and its lifelong handicap is an issue we also need to address out of our compassion. See live link at right side of this page for our Literacy for Tykes Main Website for info on our local kids in need.

Parent/Child Two-Way Awareness is Key

2010-01-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

When thinking of optimal Parent /Child relationship, two-way awareness is a key factor. Language development is a part of that relationship. Children learn best from parents or other trusted adults, and older siblings. The relationship is a positive attachment that is an essential conduit for two-way awareness of teaching/learning.
When a parent or caregiver has an established relationship with a baby or toddler, they become almost automatically tuned in to the child's need for clear pronunciation. Perhaps by trial and error method , the adult becomes aware that baby will hear the words better if said slowly and emphasis given to each vowel and consonant. Ashley Merryman calls that style of parental pronunciation to toddlers "parentesse". She has stated that parents worldwide have been recorded using "parentesse" and that it is the best way to model words for developing neural networks of early language development.
I would go further to say that infant facial identification also plays a part, since well-emphasized sounds also create more distinct facial expressions that are another important clue for baby's mimicking process. Typically functioning human beings are infinitely responsive to tone of voice, sounds made and facial expression when interpreting verbal communication, not only of the speaker but also of the potential hearer.
How many times have you realized you need to repeat a statement to someone because they have a blank or questioning expression on their face? Adults keep trying variations of pronunciation until they see some sign of recognition on the child's face. So do the infants and toddlers. When they try a "baby talk" sound, they are generally imitating to the best of their nascent ability the general noises they hear. If baby hears their sound repeated back to them by their significant adult, baby is encouraged that he or she is on the right path. When parent or caregiver then refines pronunciation, emphasizing each sound-part of the word, then baby will try to mimic that. The two-way interaction has begun. The language learning process is underway.
That significant interaction continues , layer upon layer, as baby progresses into toddler, toddler into Kindergartner, and on. The more aware interaction parent and child have the more the neural pathways develop, creating lifelong learning skills.
The verbal/aural skills need to expand into the visual literacy arena by age 3 years optimally for most children. Simply reading picture books with the same "parentesse" progression of pronunciation that has been established is a natural flow to toddler perception. Adding the picture in the book and implying that it goes with a specific sound, is the decoding key for initial reading skills.
Once the toddler comes to experience successfully mimicking sounds and picture correlation, they gradually understand that pictures are symbols for objects. Early books include known or "similar to known" objects and some unknown objects. Initially the known objects are understood. Then the unknown objects give information that somewhere they too probably exist. This decoding of flat image pictures as symbols for everyday objects, is the next essential building block in the lifelong learning skills in the progression from language to visual literacy.

Visual literacy and developing language skills give a child information, confidence and reading readiness. This parent/child progression is vitally significant to the well being of the toddler as he or she faces group learning environments. As we stated earlier, typically functioning human beings are very aware of one another's reactions.
Just as positive reactions stimulate the confidence to keep trying, negative feedback from a classmate or teacher can intimidate the learning process. The best teacher finds it hard to control the most subtle facial expression of frustration, or concern. And most toddler/Kindergarten newcomers can read that expression as "I didn't do that right" or worse "I don't belong here".
The way around potential negative feedback from future classmates is to give a toddler ages 3 and 4 years old, ample early visual literacy experiences with the most tuned-in persons on the planet: parents or regular caregivers. Recommended: 20 minutes per day, seven days a week of picture book together time. This regular personal sharing will give the little tyke plenty of familiarity and confidence to move forward more easily in the Kindergarten group.

Unlock Your Personal Power

2010-01-01T12:48:00.000-08:00

To quote a livetorque tweet of Winston Churchill "If not now, then when?If not us , then who?"

We have chosen as a society to create a mark in time called New Year. Let us make the most of this fresh start. Behind us, much good has been left undone, only hinted at. Ahead we can accomplish anything we set our minds to do. May this year of 2010 be one in which we can unlock our personal power for the greater good of all.
As we celebrate the new year, we wish everyone happiness, auspiciousness of law of attraction, peace of mind, and fullness of awareness. The newness of the year is a fresh view of our own life and the human condition within which we live. Potentially, we can accomplish new solutions to improve the conditions for ourselves and others.
It is fitting that we have set aside this day to celebrate our potential, new possible directions and accomplishments. Moreso, it can be exciting to think of the myriad of possibilities we can accomplish this year together. Our potential individually is limitless; our potential focused together becomes tremendous power manifested.
We can help others by joining resources with workable action plans to empower them. Parents can learn new techniques when presented in a clear easy-to-follow format. These new techniques can allow them to pass along useful information, and have additional experiences that better their child's lifelong learning capacity.
Parents are the prime people to teach their child . They constantly are teaching something : how to get food from the refrigerator; how to put on clothes; how to turn on the TV; how to take a walk; what is important to do in each day. Many parents already naturally include modeling book usage.
Our action plan offers parents who have not experienced early literacy themselves, clear methods to give their child a better start than they had. By doing so before the child faces group-class situation Pre-K or Kindergarten, he or she feels more confident about their learning process. We can reach parents at various points between their child's birth and the time their child might be expected to know these things: that sounds and pictures correlate; that pictures are symbols for objects; what terms of placement mean; to point at objects mentioned; that colors have names.
Together with your investment in our constructive action plan, we can make a significant improvement in the lives of many families and their children. The potential is there in this new year. Unlock your personal power to help manifest this positive change that will continue to benefit our collective future. www.LiteracyForTykes.com.
See live link in list on the right of this page "Literacy for Tykes Main Website""

This Year Still Holds Opportunity to Help At-Risk Kids

2009-12-29T22:18:00.000-08:00

You may be one of the good-hearted people who are looking for a great year end investment to help needy kids. We all deserve good things out of life, and it is within our power to help others have the seeds of better tomorrows for themselves and their children. This is a time of year when many look for a way to invest in caring for others, and in the process we improve life for everyone.

Your investment in our action plan can help parents of at-risk infants and toddlers become able enough to share appropriate early literacy techniques. Literacy for Tykes offers step-by-step guidelines to parents who have not read to their child at all previously. Often they do not have a concept of early child reading , because they were not read to as a little child themselves. They had a hard time in school and often they dropped out before graduating high school. They don't relate to literacy as a positive experience. Yet many of these parents want a better life for their child.

Parents who put forth the effort to go to pre-screening for Headstart or state-funded pre-ks for low income are seeking help for their child. Staff of these educational services want to offer our materials to these pre-screening parents, with instruction to read the step-by-step guideline picture book to their child. They encourage the parents with our Tip Sheet and Spanish Translation Inserts to make the process seem more do-able. The results are amazing.

Children of this late 3yr /early 4 yr age are like sponges, and the Spring to Fall interval in a perfect time for them to absorb early visual literacy, familiarity with books, pointing at objects when mentioned: all steps that will help the child feel more confident by time he or she gets to the group class experience in the Fall.

This action plan provides often a first exposure for the child to useful lifelong learning skills. Also the parents feel better because they have a do-able way to improve their child's chances at school. Most parents want to do that, and our plan empowers them with appropriate early literacy skills to share. This plan strengthens the family literacy, as well as the child's grasp of basic sound /picture correlation.

Take advantage of this opportunity to invest in a brighter future for these many needy families. We all will benefit, by less need of expensive of public remedial education, and economic burden of high school drop outs. "It only takes one serious yes, one declaration", says Kendra Thornbury, to open you up to the joy of knowing you have helped these at-risk children and their families.
Go to www.LiteracyForTykes.com (see live link on right side of this blog page) to invest with Paypal button. One click away.

Merry Tweets

2009-12-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

M : Make the most of merry moments.
E : Exude excellent energy everywhere.
R : Read really rollicking rhymes.
R : Revere relatives' roles respectfully.
Y : Yield yourself to younger yearnings.

C : Care carefully for children & children's children.
H : Have happy heartfelt holidays
R : Relish reading with relatives.
I : Initiate inspiring incidents.
S : Send sentiments so sweetly.
T : Tell tales til turtledoves twirl tree tops.
M : Make merry motions many mornings.
A : Author anthems of appreciation.
S : Smile singing simply satisfying songs.

CHRISTMAS TWEETS

2009-12-20T13:11:00.000-08:00

C : Care carefully for children & children's children.
H : Have happy heartfelt holidays.
R : Relish reading with relatives.
I : Initiate inspiring incidents.
S : Send sentiments so sweetly.
T : Tell tales til turtledoves twirl tree tops.
M : Make merry motions many mornings.
A : Author anthems of appreciation.
S : Smile singing simply satisfying songs.

Share Early Literacy Time to Increase Needed Learning Skills

2009-12-16T18:29:00.000-08:00

Parents need to understand, the neural pathways needed for literacy and lifelong learning skills are ideally created by positive experiences from active-infant stage through early pre-K stage. This is a narrow four-year period before kindergarten. Later remedial literacy efforts are difficult because the needed neural network is not present in the child's brain.

This underscores the point that education starts in the home. Even parents who do not consider themselves to be qualified to be their child's first teacher can learn basic picture-book-reading techniques in time . Years of early reading experience before kindergarten make for reading and school readiness.

Dana Foundation researched Neuroeducation: Learning, Arts and the Brain (120 pages), an intersection of cognitive neuroscience, the arts and learning. http://bit.ly/4ovu3r (1.47MB HTML). This study supports early picture book reading and other arts exposure to develop essential neural pathways for lifelong learning skills. Mariale Hardiman, Janet Eilber, Susan Magsamery, Guy McKhann all looked into the effects of early arts education on aspects of cognition and learning.

The children without earlier lap reading time with parents, have been the study at least one Kindergarten remedial project. A kindly visiting adult reader can help establish some social skills and learning skills in children who have been acting out in frustration. The premise of this study was the children were acting out because they never had the nurture relating to positive learning "reading can be fun".

These children had felt left out of the fun that other children seemed to have with books, and assumed the school experience was hostile for them. This project did help smooth out the frustration. Though they may never catch up with the 50% of agemates with the earlier fun/reading start, they felt better about themselves. Someone was finally showing them what they were missing. This project is exceptionally enlightened and not the norm across the board.

This second window of remedial adult/child reading interaction is closed by age 8 years. If an at-risk child does not experience some kind of intervention by then, the child remains 2 years behind agemates throughout school and is 3 to 4 times more likely to drop out of high school before graduation. In the vernacular, they feel like "the cards are stacked against them".

The social fallout of the currently escalating drop out rate is increased crime, increased unemployment rates, increased population in prisons, increased public expenses, increased need for taxes, decreased national productivity and quality of life. For these reasons economists are saying the best investment anyone can make to strengthen our society is in early literacy, arts and health intervention in ages birth through age 5 years.

In one such program currently done in Minnesota, home visitors coach parents on effective early literacy techniques and health issues for the first 3 years. Then for parents who co-operated with that phase, funding is made available sufficient to provide highest possible pre-kindergarten education. This program creates children with kindergarten readiness equal to the most privileged child.

There are several online mom groups who encourage the value of moms work loving and raising their children and create mom interest groups . Picture book reading and family charity to disadvantaged families are two topics of these groups. We salute www.themotherhood.com and www.extraordinarymommy.com.

Parents: Believe in Your Toddler/Preschooler

2009-12-13T21:48:00.001-08:00

When experts tell you your child has a developmental lag, keep believing that you and he can do anything together. Maybe he doesn't fit in some larger grouping and has to go to a special class for now, but the future is still wide open as long as you keep on reading and enjoying learning together.
The nurturing experience he has with you, one-on-one that includes picture books can establish neural pathways that become very significant in the long run. Lifelong learning skills are the point, and believing in him, seeing his open possibilities.
I say "his" because I'm thinking of 2 specific boys and their parents. One boy's mom who had always loved reading picture books with her toddler, was told he was too young to go into regular kindergarten, and again by his kindergarten teacher that he wasn't ready for first grade. Mom believed in him as being very bright , with great potential. She found a private school that had small class sizes, and individualized subject levels. They tested him and found a co-ordination lag that they felt would possibly disappear with normal growth. "Boys often have co-ordination lags at his age that effect reading readiness," they said. She was able to keep him at that school through first grade, where the teacher remarked on his advanced grasp of theoretic math, specifically negative numbers. He was able to progress in every subject at his natural rate. They gave him encouragement with reading skills in class, all positive, and mom continued enjoying reading picture books with him daily.
By second grade, mom could no longer afford the private school. She was concerned, hoping her son had received enough individualized support to blend with a regular class. He did very well, got A's in every subject. Mom only had to ask his public school second grade teacher not to yell so much at the children. Mom explained he had a very kind supportive teacher the year before and found her yelling distracting. She tried a more gentle approach, which benefited all the students, and he led his classmates even in reading.
That boy just graduated from college summa cum laude, with a strong literature curriculum, and advanced writing, in a generation that is generally considered to be lacking in literacy skills. Also, as a young father himself, he has always read to his son, always believed in him , who is doing well now in second grade.

Help Us Change At-risk Children's Future

2009-12-08T13:56:00.000-08:00

Over 50% of America's children are at-risk to fail when entering kindergarten. The one thing they have in common is no books in their home suitable for children. No one reads to them at home.
This is tragic when coupled with the research findings on why high school dropouts are increasing each year (It is now conservatively estimated that 30% of high schoolers are dropping out before graduation.) The researchers traced the problems back to lack of shared family reading in the home before kindergarten. When children face school unprepared, they never catch up, staying 2 years behind agemates. They are 3 to 4 times more likely to dropout, feeling unsuccessful in the school process.

Literacy For Tykes has developed a method using step-by-step guidelines, empowering parents to use appropriate techniques to bring literacy to their early child. Our all-volunteer staff has given up royalty rights so we can offer these books and materials to benefit low-income at-risk children. Our non-profit educational and human service partners have identified at-risk children. They are happy to distribute our books and materials, and follow through encouraging parents to use appropriate techniques to read together with their children. Repeatedly they, report parent enthusiasm and measurable increases of time families are reading aloud together.

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Literacy For Tykes is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity. We depend on donations from sympathetic and generous people like you. Your donations allow us to pay publisher costs and shipping, and create materials, getting them to needy low-income families of at-risk children free of charge.

Please take part in our Year-Ending Fundraiser
to reach at least 2010 at-risk children in 2010.

Use Link at right on this page "Literacy For Tykes Main Website"
to use easy PayPal Button there
for secure tax-deductible donations.

All size donations are welcomed.
As a special thank you to those donating over $10
we will send a full-color copy of
"Enjoy Picture Books With Children"
along with your official tax receipt.

On behalf of our all-volunteer staff, partners, children and families we serve,

Thank you for all your help for the sake of giving these at-risk little ones a brighter future, and strengthening their families.
May you and yours have a blessed and prosperous New Year.

Nancy J. Cloyd
President of Literacy for Tykes

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My Elf Help

2009-12-05T13:02:00.000-08:00

My Elf Help is an Interactive Holiday Family Fun website: Santa Videos;Write letters to Santa; Receive personal messages from Santa; Track Santa's arrival on Christmas Eve; Santa's Favorite Stuff. Enroll family for unlimited daily use for one-time fee of $9.95 and choose which Children's Charity will benefit.www.MyElfHelp.com

Be an Angel - Include a Book

2009-12-05T09:49:00.000-08:00

For those kind-hearted people who take a name from an Angel Tree, or otherwise give presents to poor and low-income children, please include an age-appropriate book. If you are given the child's age and they are under 5-years old give them a simply-worded picture book. Rhyming words are fun for this age. If they are elementary school age give them a picture book with a simply worded story line.

These are exactly the demographic who have no books in the home suitable for a child to read.
These are the ones who come to kindergarten at-risk-to-fail. Often they have never been read to in their home. They are probably 2 years behind their agemates in school, if they are already in elementary school.

Older elementary or middle school kids do well with an age-appropriate graphic novel or a comic book. Pictures are still important to this age. If you've got a teen, try a teen magazine to get their interest. Anything written about Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) or the Jonas Brothers should do it. In Style for girls and People magazines might be good choices to get them reading.

I'm sure you will also get them something warm to wear, if its cold where you are; and some kind of an amusement. My point is please include an age-appropriate book, graphic novel, comic book or magazine in your gift selections.

Also see tomorrow's blog for other free things you can do to help many little at-risk children in the next few weeks. Literacy for Tykes salutes your spirit of caring and giving!

Fun Online Literacy Sites to Add to Daily Home Read

2009-12-04T08:07:00.000-08:00

First and foremost Literacy For Tykes recommends reading with your child at home during a quiet time for 20 minutes each day. Beyond that regular reading together time that is so nurturing to your early child as a person and a future reader, there are a few thoughtful services that can be fun ways to promote your child's interest in literacy. These will probably be most effective for 4-year-olds, or a precocious three year old that wants to do everything fun.
This first one is especially fun if you like doing Santa-oriented activities with your child before Christmas. This site http://www.MyElfHelp.com is one you can go to and see if you want to interact with it. You will see Santa Notes that are new daily that you can read with your child, and you can become a member for a onetime fee of $9.95 to have full use of the site. This includes a Letter-to-Santa writing program that you can use with your little one. When you become a member, you can select from a list of 20 or so Children's Charities to receive a donation. Our Literacy For Tykes is one of those charities recognized by that site. You have fun reading and writing with your preschooler, or even elementary-school-age child, and other needy children benefit as well.
Another site that gives an added dimension to reading fun online is probably good for 4 yrs and up. It is www.StorylineOnline.net . Screen Actors Guild members such as James Earl Jones, Melissa Gilbert, Robert Guillaume, Caitlin Wachs, and Pamela Reed each read a specific children's book online. I would recommend listening to the story with your child and responding to the story to give your child cues as to meaning.
Your personal input and interaction with your child to help them understand, interpret, and enjoy these experiences are still the key to their benefit. Your enthusiasm is what your child looks for as whether or not this means anything to them.
Also I would again state that these online activities are only meant to compliment years of home reading with you. Your child needs a strong base of experience directly with you, exploring characteristics of picture books together for 20 minutes a day, before he or she will be ready to comprehend language and picture/print symbolism. You are their first interpreter . You are their most important person. They learn from you. In the online experience they learn with you.

Enjoy Picture Books with Children

2009-12-01T07:15:00.000-08:00

When children enjoy book-sharing time with you, they develop life-ling learning capacity, good feelings about books and how to treat them. Here are some ways to get the most out of this together time:

Focus on your child's attention span. At first, a few minutes of book time exploring a picture together builds interest that will grow.
Children often develop a favorite page or picture. That indicates a growing interest in book fun. That's just what you want to see.
Let your child set the pace. Early on your child may want to repeat a page, a section, or jump around skipping pages. Perhaps he or she will want to go to a different activity or conversation. Don't be too concerned about how long they remain interested, because you will see their interest increase as they are able.
It's OK if your child thinks you are "reading the pictures". They are actively trying to make sense out of what you are showing them.
Clear simple words are easier for a child to mimic and learn. They love to show you they can repeat a sound. They will mimic a sound before they get the meaning.
Point at the features you are talking about and help your child touch the picture parts you are describing.
Soon your child may point to the named parts of the picture, as you have earlier shown them to do.
After many months of "picture reading", your child may notice the printed words. Then you may point to words as you read them, and then point to picture part you just said if child is not doing so.
Remember your child is still more interested in the pictures and being with you. (Lap-reading or "next-to" reading allows for needed nurturing touch.)
Let yourself enjoy the pictures and reading together. Then your child will feel that reading is a happy thing to do.
Look for books that have the basic 8 crayon box colors. By reading daily, your child may learn those color names in time for kindergarten .
Children come to understand that pictures are symbols for known objects. Also other pictures that show unfamiliar objects can expand your child's ideas and vocabulary.
Quiet-time sharing books : Children get more out of the experience if you turn off the TV and other distracting sounds. That makes it easier for both of you to focus on your shared together time.
Though you may start with only a few minutes as attention span allows, gradually increase your daily book time to 20 minutes.
Before bedtime routine: start with a warm bath, to help your child relax; a favorite book to read together; a drink of water, and a kiss goodnight. This regular routine will help your child feel safe and more relaxed for a good night of sleep (10 hours recommended).

You Make a Difference Everyday

2009-11-28T07:39:00.000-08:00

"You make a difference everyday. You matter. Your life is important," said Dr. Jane Goodall on Bill Moyer's Journal yesterday. Over the years , she has inspired hundreds of "Roots and Shoots Groups" around the world. She encourages young people to do some small thing to help wildlife. She says her belief that every person can and does make a difference in life around them is central to the success of these many groups of young people, and their impact on their local ecosystem.
One group in western United States saw that they could encourage a dried up river to flow again by planting trees on its banks, removing blockages, and reintroduced plants for the fish that had inhabited the stream. Now it is a thriving home for large members of that fish species.
She observes the "peace of the forest" in her years of living in natural settings in Africa where she quietly "encompasses a vague feeling of the universe." She feels that modern humankind has suffered a "disconnect between their intellect and the wisdom of the heart". That disconnect has contributed greatly to the ecological collapse wherein over 7000 species of animals are in danger of extinction now. Though something similar has apparently happened 5 times before in our planets history, she said it is coming on much more rapidly this time due to unwise decisions of continuing depletion of habitats even after seeing dire consequences to animal life.
Dr Goodall has written a book Hope for Animals and their World that is currently available and would make a good read for anyone interested in our planet..
I appreciate her years of expertise and wonderful awareness. Let me quote 2 verses of a poem that Bill Moyer read of hers called..................................... "The Old Wisdom": (by Dr. Jane Goodall)

When the night wind makes pine trees creak,
and pale clouds glide across the dark sky.
Go out, my child, go out and seek
your soul, the eternal I....
Yes. my child, go out into the world. Walk slow
and silent comprehending all, and by and by
Your soul, the universe, will know
itself, the eternal I.

Enjoy and take inspiration from her mention of those she calls "Keepers of the Planet" such as Dan Merton of New Zealand, whose efforts brought the Black Robin back from near extinction. Dr. Jane is firm in her belief that if we "Never give Up" we can make a difference in life around us. She has discovered a secret to "Unlock Your Personal Power".
Read her book Hope for Animals and their World and give it as a gift to many. Also read parts of it to your children as part of your daily reading time together.

Millions of CNN Fans Vote For Teen Education Hero

2009-11-27T08:32:00.000-08:00

We give thanks for millions of CNN fans who voted to support Efren Penaflorida as Hero of The Year. This remarkable Filapeno young man has formed www.dynamicteencompany.org with several other teens to create learning carts that they physically push to the many homeless children who live in garbage dumps in the Philippines.
They have one cart for literacy, one cart for games, one cart for computer. When these remarkable teens who managed to get some educational help from a mentor, roll their carts into the dump area, hundreds of little children pour out excitedly.
Efren Penaflorida's comment about education was aimed at "all the children of the world" :
"Embrace learning. Love it, for it will embrace you and love you back, and shall enable you to change your world."

The teens teach what they have learned. Theirs is a power we all have, to share what we know with others. Young Efren winner of the grand prize $100,000 as CNN Hero of the Year 2009, said, "There are many heroes throughout the world of different colors, shapes and sizes. Each person has a hero within. All they have to do is search their hearts and change their world. You are the change that you dream, as I am the change that I dream"
I would add the Efren has learned the secret of "Unlock Your Personal Power".

I celebrate and give thanks for all the CNN heroes and all the CNN fans who recognized the exceptionally clear and bright shining light of Hero Efren Penaflorida. He is a good role model for us all.

Where Do You Put Your Money: Facts or Fiction??

2009-11-25T07:20:00.000-08:00

The past weekend, "we the people" spent over $142,000,000 on fiction , while the factually needy go begging. A grant website for children's organizations received over 3,000 requests for real life children's needs from nonprofits who are not getting enough funding from "we the people". You might say this is to be expected in these hard financial times. I would have agreed, until my favorite talk show hosts pointed out that "we the people" found an enormous amount of cash to belch out at the movie theaters in just one weekend: $142,000,000. Those zeros stand for something, an enormous escapism from real life needs.

My hat's off to the website trying to award money to real children's needs, but how derailed are "we the people" from these issues? I understand that this movie was aimed at the immature adolescents and that part in all the many older adults who also laid down the cash to see the young hunks rescue the love-sick skinny girl with great eyes. I understand the longing for romance and adventure in times when its even hard to find a job at a fast food restaurant.

As I heard Arne Duncan Education Secretary on our president's cabinet proclaim clearly that "we the people" are in an educational crisis with 1,200,000 high school kids dropping out every year, the plot thickened. During brief CNN coverage, Arne said every year over 30% of our teens drop out of high school, and are therefore " condemned to poverty and social failure".
Was it the good students, the 70% who stay in school who went in droves to see the vampires/ werewolf movie? Where did these teens get the money? How did so many parents have enough money for allowances to add up to $142,000,000 in a few days time? I thought teens were having a hard time finding work. I thought parents were having a hard time keeping a job.

Apparently there is more discretionary money out there in the pockets of America than we are being told. Then it is a question of where we put our money. Parents want to give a special treat to their good kids and fork over the cash. I suspect many parents and other adults got pulled into the curious fantasy world whirlwind as well.

Bottom Line : "We the people" have choices.
Challenge: instead of paying to see this same fantasy movie a second time, if "we the people" would take that same $10 (or a matching $10 if you must go to the movie) and give it to a needy Headstart for poverty level children, State-Funded Pre-Kindergarten for low income, Healthy Family for first time at-risk families, Infant & Toddler Connection for families of children with special needs, or even our group, Literacy for Tykes, who serves all the above groups, much real life need could be relieved . Many real life children could have brighter futures. "We the people" could turn around the ever-growing dropout rate within 15 years.

There is a Middle Path in Parenting

2009-11-22T18:02:00.000-08:00

There is a middle path in parenting, nurturing, caring, and interest in who your child is.
Recently Karen Nemeth, EdM brought to my attention via twitter that parents are paying big money for tutors for their pre kindergartners, to help them ace the test to get into gifted level kindergarten in NYC. I realize the overcrowded population levels in that Metro Island brings out a competitor attitude, but tutors for K entrance placement is extreme. It speaks more about distortion of parental values than anything I have heard in recent years. I understand that many parents get over-zealous , trying to push their "Little Me"s into ever greater achievements. The stats show at least 20% of birth to 5 yr parents have gone way beyond encouraging their child into gathering feathers for their own caps.
On the other extreme, about 50% of birth to 5 Yr parents all not even reading to their children, no books in the home suitable for children at all. Some of these parents are very high tech people that think books at outdated. Others of these parents are not confident as educating their child and hope that when their children hit Kindergarten they will get all they need at school. Others are too preoccupied with working for basic necessities, or their own personal dramas to notice. Some just don't understand how important they are to their early child.

I suggest there is a middle path that perhaps 30% of parents are successfully navigating. They are happy to take some time , reading with their child (even just 20 minutes a day). They know their child develops most of his or her lifelong learning skills capacity by age 3yrs. They know that everyday experiences shared and talked about with their little one, open up and shape their child's view of life, love and learning. They actually find that time spent in reading together, and other activities is a great enjoyable dynamic in their own lives.
I'm asking those who have not known about this middle path to take a look. If you are not confident about how to share a children's picture book with your early child look at amazon.com listing of my book Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures, with step-by-step guidelines to do just that, as well as beautiful art work by Delia Bowman Wach.
If you would like a copy of my free guidelines "Enjoy Books With Children" email me at info@LiteracyForTykes.com .
If you are over-fixated on your own golden child, relax and send a little of those dollars to www.LiteracyForTykes.com to benefit the underprivileged children to keep from being at-risk-to fail.
The main thing is enjoy the wonderful opportunity you have to share whatever time you have each day with the most important persons in your life, your early children.

Where is the Light of Learning

2009-11-20T07:50:00.000-08:00

Where is the light of learning
By which mankind survives?
We can have the light of learning
When we touch each other's lives.

With simple acts of sharing
Keep learning ties well knit;
And give our time in caring
To keep each lamp well lit.

Where is the light of learning
By which mankind survives?
We can have the light of learning
When we touch each other's lives.

-song/poem copyright 2008 Nancy J. Cloyd

Tips: Early Child Literacy & Language Development - Part Three

2009-11-18T19:26:00.000-08:00

Literacy and language development is , when all goes well, a building process. What is learned on day can be built upon possibly as soon a the next day.
After the fourth birthday, favorite books are a great place to go one step futher than before. Continue pointing at the printed words as you say them. Four year olds start getting the idea that you are reading the print. Once you see that awareness you can even mention how "m" sounds, and other specific letter sounds.
It's good to start with the beginning sounds like "C" "Cat", "T" "Teddy", "B" Bear". Children are very proud of catching on to new "secrets" about favorite books.

Also discuss color names when reading a book, dressing your child, or looking at a television show together. "Big Bird is yellow"; "Grover is blue"; "The Teddy Bear is brown". Kindergarten teachers evaluate your child as to whether they can identify the 8 colors in the basic crayon box to determine readiness.

When it's time to put away the toys, help your child. She or he will do much better knowing the order you think things should go in. Remember the mimicking tendency is still the best way a child learns. Model exactly where you like things to go. Talk about why certain things go in a certain order. If your child has a strong preference about a particular favorite item, discuss it. Listen and if you can live with his or her idea, compromise. They do love to feel you are listening, and that their opinion counts for something. Of course , you are the boss, but hopefully a benevolent dictator. (Red Flag:autistic children may line up everything compulsively.)

When talking with your four year old, be sure to introduce new words that are relevant to your child. "Be well rested" can go along with "Then you'll have lots of energy". You might chose a new book that has a few new words or discuss a favorite book using a few additional words that are new. If your child is not yet in a classroom setting, get a book about being in kindergarten.

Putting away groceries is a great time to introduce categorizing to your child. "Put all the cans in here". This age is also a good time to give 2 simple directions at a time like: "Put your jacket on the chair and then put all the cans in this cupboard". Of course the cupboard would have to be within the child's reach.
Following 2 simple directions is one of the things that kindergarten screening looks at to see if your child is ready.

Board games are a great way to help your child get used to following simple directions.

Tips: Early Child Literacy & Language Development - Part Two

2009-11-17T09:42:00.000-08:00

Literacy and language development is unique to each child. These tips are general guidelines. Some children will proceed at different rates than others. Some will reverse this pattern or do it differently. Others who have not been exposed to the opportunities we outlined in our tips for birth through three years old, may still need those experiences before they can progress onto the stages we outline today. Literacy and language development is a growth process, in which the early building blocks need to come before the later building blocks. When in doubt start with the early ideas and activities mentioned in yesterdays blog and see if your child responds well to those. If they are very easy, build upon them with today's ideas and tips for children .
After their third birthday, talking to your child about the events of the day is important. We do not suggest an inquisition style, so questions that can be simply answered yes or no are not the point. Since the idea is to stimulate your child's use of language, ask him or her leading questions, like what did you like best in that book?
Reading books together is still an important part of your day, or evening. The together time spent lap reading, or "right-next-to" reading, continues to offer the close cuddling that nurtures your child in a reading situation. This gives positive feelings about the world of books that will carry with your child for a lifetime. If your child has a favorite book or two, see how much more he or she is able to relate to the pictures and possibly tell you the names and make the sounds and tell you the simple sentences from memory. This would be a good time for you to point to the printed words as you say them. This gives your three year old a clue that the print has something to do with the sounds(words)you make as well as the pictures they describe.
At this stage, children often like to pretend that they are cooking, exercising, making houses out of blocks, or boxes. Using assorted large colored squares of cloth, they can pretend to be in various costumes like, you or the mailman, the doctor, someone in fancy clothes.
Since your child is attempting to speak more words everyday,encourage them to pronounce their words more clearly. You can lovingly say "Mommy's having a hard time hearing your words. Can you say that again, please?"
Enjoy your child. He or she is unfolding in their own special way. This is a tender age and the ideal time to share enthusiasm for life, and experiencing new things each day, as well as continuing favorite things, books, activities.
Tomorrow we'll continue with "After their fourth birthday..."

Tips: Early Child Literacy & Language Development

2009-11-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

Tips for early child literacy and language development vary by your child's age and stage. Some children are consistenet or 'typical' developers; others start somewhat typically, but can alter their course by age 2 years or so. See www.firstsigns.org for in depth discussion of the need to observe for reversals of language and communication development.
These tips are helpful for typical (and several variations on typical) development.

In your child's first year: read a simple picture book to them daily; be sure to cuddle and lap-read since loving touch is so important for thriving; when animals appear in the book teach your baby to make the animal sounds; while making eye contact, imitate the sounds that your baby makes; talk describing what you're doing to your baby if you are within visual range of each other; play peek-a-boo and other games involving your baby's senses; if your baby does not seem to respond to you, have their hearing checked.

Babies love to mimic sounds and their sense of language is encouraged when you mimic their sounds. All of this interaction is only possible if their hearing and vision are functioning properly. When in doubt, have it checked out.

After their first birthday: naming objects in their day and naming objects represented as pictures in their books is important. They start to get it when you consistently call an object by the same name. Pointing at their nose, ears, mouth etc, and pointing to your same body parts is important. Also extend that by pointing at all the noses, ears and mouths represented in picture books. They are able to begin understanding the meaning of the sounds you consistently repeat through the day. Help them point to picture parts you are describing and they will start pointing themselves, as you read the same books to them each day. They thrive on repetition.
At this point, its a good time to give your child one simple direction at a time."Show me your nose" -or- "Look at Mommy".

After their second birthday: They will begin to pick up on the idea of simple sentences you say frequently and consistently; favorite books with simple sentences become something they repeat; they start to understand that words (sounds) can be strung together, for specific meanings. "The cat is big"."Touch your nose", "I'll change your diaper now." "Food is coming." Gradually they get the meanings and learn to say the words at the appropriate times. "The ball is big"
Labeling things in their everyday life is helpful, when you say the label each time. They still may be relying on verbal cues, more than the actual printed letters, but this starts a process of print recognition. Labeling pictures of loved ones, and saying the names is helpful. Remember they love to hear you sing simple songs.
Tomorrow we talk about after their third and fourth birthdays.

Visual Literacy

2009-11-15T17:36:00.000-08:00

Literacy is awareness that leads to reading and writing skills.
Visual Literacy is the beginning stage of becoming literate.Infants and toddlers completely depend on adults and older reading children for clues along the literacy journey. They learn especially well from someone they trust.

Toddlers learn that pictures are symbols for real life objects.
Flat images as in picture books are ideal for toddlers to learn about symbols.The adult care giver or parent reading the pictures to a toddler gives him or her clues as to what the image represents. Thus the toddler learns that the pictures are symbols for real life objects.Later they can understand that some images are representing imaginary objects.

Toddlers learn that certain sounds go with certain pictures (symbols).Written words are not significant to toddlers.
They hear the sounds you say and gradually learn that certain sounds or words are said in association with certain pictures.They think you are reading the pictures. Print means nothing to them initially. Only later do they understand, the sounds you make are associated with print.

Toddlers learn that books are different from other objects.They learn books are not toys; we don’t build towers with them.They learn that books are not food; we don’t eat them.By regularly reading with toddlers they learn that books are for reading.They also learn how to handle a book by your example. You are modeling to them all the clues they need to navigate the world of books: proper care of books, how to turn the page; read them from front to back.Eventually as they can relate to print they see how you read from left to right.
For a book that pursues this topic in greater detail see: Young Children and Picture Books, Mary Renck Jalongo, published by NAEYC.

Many Ways to Help Early Child Development

2009-11-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

Many are putting forth good effort and information to help in the early child development crisis. Since researchers trying to discover the root cause of the high percentage of High School Dropouts have traced it all back to early child development, many organizations are putting a major effort into meeting those early needs. Pre-School for everyone is an interesting approach, though not currently economically feasible. Most children do not attend pre-school at this time. For every child in Headstart for poverty level and State funded Pre-k for low income there are probably 8 children who are not in any organized day care setting.
One grass roots attempt to better the picture is admirable Home Schooling that can start at whatever age the parent chooses, certainly by age 4 years. There are many sources of well-thought-out resources for moms and dads who are committed to providing a great education at home. Also there are organizations dedicated to offering better information to home-based day care providers, as well as center based ones. These groups, such as NAEYC provide regular training and resource information to those who seek to better what they are offering .
Still we see high % of children entering Kindergarten without the most essential building blocks of literacy and school readiness. In an effort to reach some of these children, SECA has made available a series of age appropriate books through pediatricians that are freely given to parents on well baby (child) check-ups, benefit- ting the segment of families who seek regular medical consultation.
Another issue, that is receiving some attention recently, is that various of the well established early child educational organizations do not have the resources they need to do all they would like. Leaders of many such groups have said they would love to have a book to give to every parent of every child so they could read to their child in the home. Most agree that parent/ child lap reading is the most effective way to compliment what they can do in a group setting. Most will also say that there are no books in the homes of the families they serve. Most will go on to make clear that the parents they serve do not read to the children at home.
This is where Literacy for Tykes came into the early child literacy crisis. Leaders we asked knew exactly how many families they served that could benefit from a children's picture book. When they saw award-winning Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures they thought the step-by-step parent guidelines were perfect for encouraging their parents. No funding available inspired me to give up my rights to author's royalties and form a nonprofit organization with several other educators and concerned professionals.Now as a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, our plea for tax-deductible donations goes out to all who will listen. We have received a one-time grant from Target that got our first Phase of Early Child Literacy Partnership with several organizations on our long list going. We have just scratched the surface of the need , even just in our portion of our state of Virginia. Blooming where we are planted , we hope to serve the largely rural area of Heartland Virginia, counties clustered around organizational centers in Farmville, Charlottesville, and Lynchburg. The statistics from other states indicate this early child literacy crisis is nationwide. We will do what we can for as many as possible as funds allow.
Next week I will write about a new way that without directly donating you can all help us get a grant.

What About USA Kids Without Books?

2009-11-12T12:25:00.000-08:00

What is it like for a 5-year-old child to enter kindergarten with no familiarity with books, flat images or literacy? What if that child cannot even follow simple 2-part directions? What if color names had never been mentioned to this child?
They would feel like they don't belong. They would feel dumb compared to the other children. They would suffer the same "classroom battering" reported to occur with learning disabled children. As a matter of fact, they could be defined as learning disabled because of social circumstances.
Researchers could go to their homes and find no books suitable for young children. The researchers would find that their parents were so busy keeping food on the table and a roof over their heads that they never even thought about reading to their child. Many parents might say they were never read to when they were children. Others might say that they don't feel qualified to teach their own child, so they didn't try. Another might just be too into his own despair as unemployed; or an overburdened single mom trying to do it all by herself.
In these situations, the children never feel they can make it at school. They never catch up with the more literate agemates. They drop out of high school. Jobs require High School Diplomas. they will be more likely to become outlaw entrepreneurs, or unwed teenage moms needing financial aid to exist.
No one wants these outcomes for their own child or anyone else s child. Yet over 50% of entering Kindergarteners in USA today are in this at-risk-to-fail category. See tomorrow's blog for an effort to help.

Help Your Child Feel Worthwhile

2009-11-11T11:41:00.000-08:00

"Worth while" means "worth" your "while", your time spent (as in "stay a while").
You can help your child feel worthwhile, worth your time.
It only takes spending time focused on the needs of your child.
Through meeting their basic physical and emotional needs, a positive attachment has formed between you. Its like an energetic umbilical cord through which all feeding occurs, including direct learning of who they are to you.
In your busy day, I ask you to simply set aside a few moments: find a quiet spot with few distractions; hold your child or take their hand lovingly; make eye contact. This lets them know you really are interested in them. You really are wanting to be with them. You really are spending time focused on them.
This focused attention is a lovely place in which you can share and learn more about each other. Give your child a chance to let you know what's on their minds. (I use a plural choice of words because I am addressing many parents, however this is meant to be a time for you and only one of your children at a time, if you happen to have several.) It may last only briefly, but the energetic interchange will stay with you both forever, as a building of greater positive awareness of each other.
This same idea can be a fruitful and positive dynamic in any relationship, especially parent /child. Try it.

Parents: You are in Best Position to Show Your Child Books

2009-11-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

Parents, you are in the best postion to share the world of books with your child, whether you feel qualified or not. You may say that you are not an educator, or, that you do not know how to teach your child to read.
Children learn what you do with them and around them. They copy cat everything you do , because they trust you with their lives, they want to be like you.
Here are some guidelines:
Quiet possible distractions (music, TV, Computer).
Sit with your child on your lap or right next to you.
Find a simple picture book (An example is Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures available amazon.com).
Read the pictures. Talk to your child about what you see in the picture, pointing to the parts, or helping your child to point to each part you name.
Use simple words they can mimic. Children love to mimic sounds. Name animals, make their sounds.
If you point at and name an ear in the picture, then point at and name your child's ear .
Mention color names. First they will mimic the sound, associate with the picture, and later they will be able to get the meaning.
It's a process. Get into it; Enjoy it.
This is all you need to do. Repeat this quiet book time together everyday for 20 minutes (or working up to those goals as much as possible) and your child will develop learning skills and be more confident when he gets into a classroom situation.
You can be refreshed by this break from your usual concerns, and your child will love this together time.

"Parents have Really Appreciated the Books"

2009-11-09T10:06:00.000-08:00

I just received a letter from Infant & Toddler Connection's director. She stated that "The books have been wonderful and the parents have really appreciated them." Due to a one-time grant from Target, Literacy for Tykes was able to give ITC enough copies of Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures for about half of their caseload of families with children with special needs, ages birth to three years. I first dedicated the book to one of my grandsons who was at the stage when he could be introduced to the world of books. It is beautifully illustrated by Delia Bowman Wach. We purposefully only have one illustration that can be seen at a time to eliminate visual distractions. Each pair of pages are the picture on the right page and "Parent Points" on the left facing page. Step-by-step clear guidelines for sharing the characteristics of the picture with their child make it easy to do.
As author, I am very happy to hear that parents are enjoying the reading experience of this book. It can be shared daily . Kids love repetition. Working up to 20 minutes a day is a great way to help any young child build lifelong learning skills and confidence for the future, as well as a love of reading. The secret ingredient is the parents' enthusiasm.

Enjoy a Walk in Crunchy Autumn Leaves

2009-11-08T09:52:00.000-08:00

Enjoy a walk in crunchy autumn leaves with your children. Take some colorful ones home and press them between two pieces of wax paper, or put them between 2 layers of clear contact paper, or just glue them to construction paper. You can also have fun tracing their shapes with a crayon. Then read about the crunch of Autumn leaves in one of several books at a quiet time before bed later on. Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures has a beautiful autumn leaf in it illustrated by Delia Bowman Wach. Lots of colors, and an interesting shape to finger trace with your child.
Enjoy exploring life together.

Great New Parent Role Models Sarah Michelle Gellar and FPJ

2009-11-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

It has been worth the wait to see such a beautiful article about two new parents with great attitude. Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy to her fans) and her hubby of 7 years are featured by People Mag November 16 edition, now out on newsstands. Their precious baby Charlotte Grace has certainly come to a home full of love. "We have a lot of love here, and for me that's what family is all about,"says dad Freddie Prinze Jr.
Sarah Michelle Gellar says " We're just taking one day at a time...She's the greatest gift that anyone has ever given me, and I will spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to do right by her."
They have great commitment to their new baby and I am sure they will start reading to her now with little picture books and talk about the pictures to her. That is the first building block of early child literacy.

Cudos to People Mag : Celebs who read to their Early Child

2009-11-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

Jessica Alba "I read everything to (toddler Honor) her". Ana Ortiz was given 40 books by America Ferrara baby gift for little Paloma. Both women "Are voracious readers: we're always exchanging books." America said, "we have to make her a reader like we are." One favorite is a story about a teddy bear Corduroy. "Read it-it's fabulous," said Ortiz. Alba especially likes Goodnight Moon to read to her toddler.
Literacy for Tykes is very glad to see People Magazine (Oct 5 Books Section) feature good role models for young parents. Most young parents know Jessica and Ana from their acting careers. All of us have personal power to communicate positive suggestions to others. Young parents can see that they can have enjoyable time reading with their young children. In this way they can greatly influence their child's literacy development, so that they become more confident by time they reach kindergarten.
Send for your copy of "Enjoy Books with Children" see www.Literacy For Tykes.com for instructions.

Phase One Early Child Literacy Partnership Completed

2009-10-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

During Phase One of Early Child Literacy Partnership, "Books for Families" Target helped Literacy for Tykes to provide books and materials with specific step-by-step guidelines to parents on how to share characteristics of each art illustration ( done by highly esteemed children's picture book artist Delia Bowman Wach) with their early child.
This necessary first step to establishing lifelong learning/ literacy skills is called Visual Literacy. Ideally all children have a chance to experience lap reading with their trusted adult (parent) between the ages of birth through three years old. If they have not had that important book sharing with their parents in that period then age four is still in time to help them catch up before entering Kindergarten. Without this early literacy experience, 50% of children entering kindergarten are at-risk to fail, stay 2 years behind their age mates throughout school and eventually dropout of high school before graduation according to Southern Early Child Association (SECA), often ending up in prison.
These agencies were given books and materials in Phase One of this Partnership for Early Child Literacy, "Books for Families" :
Piedmont Healthy Families serving 7 counties of Heartland Virginia;
Infant and Toddler Connection of the Heartland 7 counties (first half of their caseload);
Buckingham County Social Services, Family Visitors.
Gold Hills Elementary, Early Child Special Education. ( a few sample books).
These organizations are highly dedicated professionals giving ongoing service to families in need. They note that prior to this intervention "These families often have no books in the home".

Literacy for Tykes is grateful to Target for their very special one-time grant recognizing the need to help strengthen these families and give their children a better chance for a brighter future.

Welcome to our Blog Page:

2009-10-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

We launched Phase One of Early Child Literacy Partnership:Farmville/ Tri-County-Plus with donations from the general Public and a very special grant from Target.
We have many requests for the book Teddy Bear's Favorite Pictures, written by Nancy Cloyd who has given up her royalty rights to make this a truly nonprofit project.