Pictures are Fundamental

I was clicking through various news articles when I came across this one, from Oct. 7th in the NYT's: Picture Books No Longer A Staple For Children .  WHAT???

Not only does it make me quiet sad that parents would prevent a child from enjoying such an innocent pleasure but the reasons they do so are misguided, to say the least.

Picture books do NOT impede a child's intellectual development. In fact a well written picture book or a well constructed picture book enhances reading, intellectual curiosity and creativity. 

Often the picture contains "side comments" or jokes or other interesting reference to the text itself, a playful way of stimulating the very necessary habits of reading textbooks when graphs and other images not only contribute to the text but are important for absorbing the information. 

Wordless books and picture books stimulate writing skills; present a child with a wordless book or ask them to make up a story to go with a picture book and voila` your child is a writer!

Picture books often present complex ideas and words as the expectation is the parent will be reading the book to the child and thus able to explain the ideas and the words. I learned this when I tried to take out picture books from our library on the Yishuv (Israeli settlement) and found the words much more complex then the words in chapter books. 

Picture books allow the child to read to the parent  who is too tired to do so creating a feeling of competency in the child. Of course the warmth and joy of cuddling with a parent cannot be underestimated.

Many of wordless books and picture books are works of art; they help a child appreciate form, color, perspective, balance. Art and music are important for overall brain development. They help a child (and adult) see and hear in a way different from ordinary speech and sight. They present complex ideas in an abstract form which in itself stimulates higher thinking.

Parents who seek to push their children to the "next level" are not doing so for their child's sake. A child develops best when his or her own learning potential, strengths and weakness are respected. They are not even doing it for their own sake in the as the short term "pleasure" for the parent in being able to brag that one's child is now reading (or reading a book several grades ahead or whatever) is lost when the child "several grades later" has not progressed or has even fallen behind because skills they should have garnered by going at their own pace were never covered. By 18 or so most children are on par with each other, and by 30, even geniuses are, for the most part, where their friends are: struggling to make a life with whatever skills they have.

We need, as parents, to stop seeing our children as extensions of ourselves and understanding that they are people in their own right.

Respecting a child's means accepting a child for who they are, and respecting any person is the best way to help them reach their highest potential. And isn't that our end goal in terms of being a parent?

(I found this article after I wrote the part about picture books being a work of art. The article expands about what I thought and I think it makes for some interesting reading in its own right.)
Art and Picture Books

One Mom's Advice on Learning to Read

This post is the result of a post on a mother's board of which I'm a member. The mom has a child that is a slow reader, compared to the other children in her class. I take issue with that word "slow", and I'll explain it below.

One of my children was also a "slow reader", this despite the fact that the child was talking in full complete sentences by the age of 3. I thought, silly mom that I was, that since the child spoke well, reading would be a snap.

One learns from one's mistakes.

But my failures taught me something about the process of reading. I'd like to share what I learned with others, and maybe it can help any child regardless of reading ability.

The first and most important step starts way before the child is born, and that is with the parents. Love of reaidng isn't genetic, but it is connected to how one lives ones life. If reading is important to mom and dad, there will be a better chance that reading will be important to children. So number one on my list is:

1. READ. Fill your shelves with books and read. Enjoy what you read. It doesn't matter if the books would make me happy, or your friends happy, or anyone happy if they make YOU happy, give you pleasure, make you feel you have grown from the book, learned something, have moved, mentally, from your seat on the bus or the couch or your bed to other lands and times or even different ideas. READ, and enjoy. If reading isn't pleasurable to you now, then I suggest that is because you haven't found the books that will please you. Branch out. Think creatively; the books don't have to be the most popular, meet the approval of classic majors or literary agents, the books need to please you.

2. Let your child SEE you reading. Baby on lap book in hand is a wonderful position to be in.

3. Wordless books are wonderful for children of all ages. There are beautiful wordless books where the art work is quite exquisite, and suitable for anyone who enjoys beauty. Tell the child what you see, ask the child what s/he sees, have the child tell you their story, write the story down or record it (then perhaps write it down) and the allow the child to read/listen to what they have created (yes even if they aren't really reading it but saying their story by heart.)

4. Audio-books are wonderful. There are a great many lovely stories now being produced that are available to listen to. Many of the books are classics, some come in written form, some may be only in audio form. But hearing a well told tale is important for developing reading skills later down the road. Podiobooks has a wide variety of books for all ages, but choose carefully, as some are ONLY meant for adults.

5. Basic readers are of course important, but there are so many to choose from. Don't feel that any one is the best, instead, try and borrow the various books and see which kind your child takes to. Some children are distracted by a lot of colorful pictures, others find lack of pictures dull. Some are attractive to silly, some like the straightforward text. Ones which are based on games or winning prizes are great for some and just annoying for others. It is immaterial which book succeeded with your cousin, best friend, which one the teacher recommends or which received five stars anywhere. If it doesn't work with your child, if your child is frustrated or reluctant to read that type of book, you need to try elsewhere. B"H there are so many wonderful primary readers available now, that while it may take time to find the one right for your child, it is most likely out there.

6. Do make sure if your child is behind that you have them tested for visual/hearing problems. Your child might simply need glasses or a hearing aide or other such help. It doesn't hurt to have them tested for learning disabilities either, but do read up on the subject and do not let anyone steer you into one support method or another. Examine them and decide what will work best for your child under your circumstances.There are many who consider "learning disabilities" to actually be different learning styles, and what needs to be adjusted is not that child, but the way the child learns. I think in this way home-schooled children have the advantage. School can be set up for their needs and not the other way around.

7. Let them read what interests them. I can not "read" Tom Jones. Obviously I can read the words but I find reading the book trying.  I made an effort, I forget what chapter I am on. I could, and may keep plugging away at it, but why? Interest breeds reading. There will at some point be a need to read what one doesn't like, and this is also a skill, but the important first step is to develop a love of reading. That is what will keep the child plugging away at a book they don't enjoy; the knowledge that there is a book TO enjoy. Graphic novels, comic books, books or magazines about animals, aviation, dinosaurs, weird inventions, joke and riddle and puzzle books. If it has sentences it counts.

8. Switch teachers, tutors, schools reading methods etc. Not every method is suitable for every child. I do not teach my 16 year old calculus, because I can not do as good as a job as my husband. Keep trying to find the style and teacher best for your child. If you are homeschooling perhaps the other parent is better at teaching reading. If your child is in a school, try switching their class or teacher or getting a tutor. Do not let anything get in the way of getting your child the best education for him or her.

9. Play reading games. Take turns reading, change words into other words by changing letters, or adding and subtracting letters. Play word scramble games, or word find games. Read in different voices and have your child read in different voices. Play with letter dice and or word dice. The games should be interesting and fun in their own right, that is even if your child is a skilled reader they should be fun and interesting.

10. Relax. Many children develop beautiful reading skills when they are older (8, 9, 10 etc.) and often soon catch up to or even surpass their peers. Early reading in school, grades 1-3, are based on mechanics of reading. If your child isn't reading it is vital to make sure they keep up with the vocabulary they need to know via audio-books and podcasts and your reading/talking with them. This is why by the way, children may be reading at third grade level when they are in kindergarten/first grade, but only be reading at 6th grade level when they are in 6th grade.

Here is one's moms story of her late reading child.

http://www.besthomeschooling.org/articles/annette_mackay.html

Remember, reading isn't or shouldn't be a contest. The goal isn't or shouldn't be about being the fastest either to actually read or to develop their skills, but about being the best reader for themselves, so that all throughout their lives they can continue to grow in knowledge and develop their mind. Pleasure in reading is vital to that goal. Keep your goal in mind and your child will do fine.