Reading Skills

At this age, babies cannot comprehend what it means to "read" but as parents and caregivers, you can establish good reading habits.  By reading to your baby, you are exposing your child to spoken language.  During this stage of development, babies are learning language by hearing, and will be able to build on those language skills when learning to read.

• Babies may be fascinated by the process of turning the page -- encourage your little one to control the pace of reading a story by letting him or her turn the page.

• Choose books with strong graphic images such as black on white, strong primary colors on muted ones, or picture books that include real photographs of babies.

• Use your pointer finger to highlight the text on a page, soon your baby will associate the words on the page with the story you are telling.