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Making the Most out of Storytime (with printable!)

Reading aloud to your toddler and preschooler is probably the single best thing you can do for their cognitive development (besides plenty of unstructured playtime)! Reading ability is partially genetic, surprisingly so, but the environment has a large influence as well. Interestingly, the effect of reading snowballs over time: Children who are exposed to more books in early life develop better reading ability and those with better reading ability read more, thereby increasing their sphere of knowledge.
tips on reading aloud
Research with identical twins (thus ruling out other explanations) shows a causal link between reading ability and better verbal and general intelligence over time.

Another study shows how this effect snowballs over time: exposure to books and reading in preschool and kindergarten explained 12% of the difference on oral language tests (12% of the reason children did better on that test was due to exposure to books), this increased to 13% in elementary school, 19% in middle school, 30% in high school and 34% in college!

Not only does reading with toddlers and preschoolers affect their developing intelligence it also positively impacts their social and emotional intelligence, especially if the books you read are about social or emotional situations.

The research is so clear that in the Summer of 2014 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a study and a program to encourage pediatricians to discuss the multiple benefits of shared reading time with parents.  The AAP encourages parents to read aloud starting in infancy, but there is no reason to stop even when children are older. Parents who continue to read aloud (i.e. chapters books etc.), perhaps even taking turns reading, have children who read more on their own and share a love for reading.

 

But it isn’t just about how much we read to our children, but how we read with them.

A little over 20 years ago Dr. Whitehurst and his colleagues developed and researched a shared reading strategy they dubbed “Dialogic Reading.” Dialogic Reading is a style of reading in which the parent engages the child in a conversation (i.e. dialog) about the story. Over the last several years several researchers have put this strategy to the test and it works. Dialogic reading results in more expressive and receptive language in preschoolers and that leads to better reading ability, which leads to more reading and so on, as discussed above.

So what exactly is Dialogic Reading and how do you do it? I’ll explain it here and there is a handy printable below you can save and print to refer to later.

Dialogic Reading is when you include your child in the telling of the story through prompts — like what happens next? And then give feedback on their response. Whitehurst and colleagues developed an acronym for the interaction in which your child tells the story with you as your PEER:

 

For example, with a young toddler PEER might look like this:

What color is the bus? (Prompt) Yes, the bus is yellow (Evaluate). That is a yellow school bus (Expand). The bus is a yellow school bus (Repeat).

With an older preschooler, PEER could look something like this when reading If you Give a Mouse a Cookie: 

What do you think the Mouse will want next? (Prompt) Yes, I think he will want another cookie (Evaluate) Why did he want another cookie? (Expand) The mouse wanted another cookie to go with that milk. 

There are many types of prompts you could use. Whitehurst and colleagues came up with five types of prompts and the acronym CROWD to remember them:

 

Completion prompts are when you leave the sentence blank: “And chances are if he asks for a glass of milk, he’s going to want ____________.”

Recall prompts are when you ask your child to remember what happens in a book they have already read, “Does the mouse take a nap?” “What happens when the mouse looks in the mirror?”  

Open-ended prompts are when you say something like “what is happening in this picture?”

The What, when, why, where and how prompt, is pretty self-explanatory.

And the Distancing prompt are really more of a connecting prompt– for example, “Do you remember when we made cookies with Daddy?”

I don’t use this method every time I read with J (anyone else feel like your bedtime routine is long enough as it is, thank you very much!) I also don’t use all the strategies every time, I tend to use the completion prompt the most, and I don’t always follow through all four steps of the PEER strategy. But, I do use these often and I view it as learning time– I don’t do a lot of other direct instruction as I think at this age he learns best from play.

I think the best way to use this is to adapt to your child’s ability and use it when it feels right. Once it starts to feel natural (it’s harder with younger kids), it can be fun — it is amazing the ideas they have in their little heads!

In the end, it is all about having them help tell the story with you and connecting with them. I think that makes storytime meaningful, which makes for greater learning.

Happy storytime everyone! Find lists my favorite interactive read aloud books for Preschoolers here and toddlers here! Also don’t miss my post on reading and the brain and the importance of rhyming books.

 

Here is a printable guide for Reading Aloud to Children!!! To download a copy click here –>How to Read Aloud to your Child

How to Read Aloud to your Child
How to Read Aloud to your Child

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About Ashley Soderlund Ph.D.

Hi! As a mom and a child psychologist who spent over 15 years studying children’s emotional development, I am excited to share science-backed tips and tools with you so that you can thrive as a parent.

I know that good parenting is a combination of instincts and learning. Sometimes new knowledge helps you trust your instincts, and sometimes it gives you a new perspective. As we grow and learn, so do our kids. Here, at nurture and thrive, you’ll find the tools you need to nurture your children’s hearts and minds.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carol - My Bored Toddler

    What a fantastic article! As a teacher it is often hard to explain to parents how important it is to read to your children and this article spells it all out! I will definitely be sharing this!

  5. Coombe Mill

    Starting a lovely of reading and listening to stories young can help create a good reader as they grow. I find their desire to read books that are more grown up than their reading ability can become an issue, reading with them can bridge this gap while their own reading catches up. #Prentingpinparty

  6. Bridget/The Recipe Wench

    Loved this article. Thank you! My children are grown but I look forward to reading to my grand children someday! Thanks for sharing this at the Inspire Me Monday’s Link-Up! I hope to see you around next week!

  7. Summer

    Wow, this is great! I think reading is SO IMPORTANT and really, truly love to read with my little ones–it’s good to see that what is important to me has long-term impact too! I loved your research and the acronyms to help remember to give our kids prompts. My 2-year-old thrives on them. Her fave book right now is “Little Blue Truck” and she love love LOVES to finish the sentences and tell you what the characters are and what they’re doing. It’s so fun! 🙂

  8. Janine Halloran

    What an excellent explanation of why to read and how to do it effectively. We love to read to our kids – my husband just finished reading Harry Potter to our oldest. Such a fun connection for them. He checks in with my daughter all the time about what she remembers and what she thinks will happen next! Thanks for linking up to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Party. I have pinned your post to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Board.

  9. Let kids be kids

    Very interesting. We have always read aloud to all our children as we believe it is important. My son was a very early talker. I do find it interesting though as I have identical twin girls and one is more advanced in reading than the other. I really must make an effort to use these prompts as I think it will help them all.
    Thanks you for sharing #LetKidsBeKids

  10. Sadia

    Hi! I’ve done this dialogic reading with my kids since they were born, although I never knew to call it that. We actually approach screentime the same way. When we watch TV (weekends only), we watch it together and discuss what’s happening, why, and what might happen instead. I figure that’s working my daughters’ cognitive and analytic skills too.

    And I happen to have advanced reader identical twins. (Yes, they’ve participated in research studies in the past!!!)

  12. Heather H

    I love this well-researched article. I think used to naturally do this type of reading more when my kids were short-attention-span-toddlers. It’s easy just to get wrapped into a story for older kids, and forget to stop and discuss it. Yet, it’s still so important for their comprehension to have dialogue with them.

  13. Brandi Clevinger

    This is a very informative post! I like to read aloud to my kids who range from nine to three. I ask questions about the pictures and ask questions about what they think will happen next. To me, reading is essential. I appreciate your research and time with this article!

    Thanks for sharing at Inspire Me Mondays!