Reading Benefits Children

Transcript

While the benefits of reading books together with children have long been assumed, now they've been proven.

From the University of Kansas, this is Research Matters. I'm Brendan Lynch.

It's surprising that until recently there wasn't much real evidence that reading together with children improves their ability with language.

John Colombo, professor of psychology at the University of Kansas, sought to substantiate widely held beliefs about joint book reading.

Colombo: "There was a lot of proclamations, a lot of declarations, a lot of reading-to-your-child-book weeks or whatever. But, for the most part, there wasn’t a lot of hard, solid evidence that joint book reading was actually good and what was it good for. It’s not that we doubted that that was the case, but we wanted to provide some empirical proof."

By asking parents to complete surveys and keep logs, Colombo found that parents most often read with their 10-to-18-month-old children as part of a scheduled routine like bedtime, and also spontaneously during play.

Colombo: "We tried to get a fix for how much reading was actually going, when did people start how long did they actually read and what was the frequency. What we found was that for the most part people read to their children about twice a day for a total of about two hours, a little more than per week on average."

Colombo says mothers logged the lion's share of book titles; fathers read 20 percent of the books; and others, like grandmothers and aunts, accounted for the rest. Next, Colombo tested the children.

Colombo: "We found that, the more book reading sessions there were, the higher the vocabulary of the child was. Essentially it was a stronger effect for expressive or productive vocabulary than it was for receptive vocabulary."

Ultimately, Colombo says, no matter who reads with a child, or how that reading takes place, joint reading builds communications skills in children.

Colombo: "We went out looking to confirm the veracity of the claims about joint-book reading. And the data we got very strongly emphasized that it is something that’s good for children."

For more about the proven benefits of joint book reading, log on to Research Matters DOT K-U DOT E-D-U. From the University of Kansas, I'm Brendan Lynch.

Tell Me More

KU researcher sheds light on benefits of book reading for children

LAWRENCE — Most parents know that a good bedtime story can lull a child to sleep. And parents have long assumed that reading books with their child improves that child’s language skills and intellectual development.

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