Reading to Babies and Brain Development

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Reading to Babies and Brain Development

Do you want to wean your baby to be a smarter one? You don’t find “Reading” to your baby to be a so-early practice? And reading to your baby is the tool?

Then reading to your baby is not a bad idea; to do this, you should read “aloud.” Certainly, babies do not understand those words; you might want to consider it a waste of time, but this exercise will hasten and sharpen your baby’s brain. Reading aloud to your baby(s) will enable them to understand and identify what is around them easily, and most importantly, it aids their growing brain. Those sounds or tone of words you make when reading aloud to your baby enhances their learning skill as they grow.

The Introduction of Numbers, Letters, Colors, and Shapes

When we talk about learning entirely, these four sub-tools and characters make up an entire content or book(s)!
The introduction of these would consciously and unconsciously help in sharpening cognitive skills in your growing baby. Such as enhancing your baby’s listening skills, developing their memory and vocabulary skills.

Baby’s brain and environment?

During development in a newly born, the most sensitive of all external factors which would later tell on the way the baby grows up to think or the kind of mentality they grow into is called ” Environment”!. This efficiently gets grounded up with them and becomes part of their development. Thus, this will, in a way, affect the growing baby’s brain positively or negatively. Hence, if you want a positive touch for your growing baby, you should consider what type of environment is best for such a result.

Although the gene is the most vital factor that provides a blueprint for the brain, a larger percentage of grooming is usually executed by “Environment.”

One other possible factor contributing to positive and smart nurturing essentials for your growing baby is a; learning environment. This is why you as a mother ought to be able and ready to pick up the role of becoming your baby’s first teacher as early as possible because ” it is too early” and “they do not understand yet”! By creating this skill that will help your baby’s brain, there is no way they wouldn’t grow up to be a “Smart Kid.” Therefore, consistency is the key! So when you take up exercises like reading aloud to your baby’s hearing, you have to be intentional about it.

The Stages of The Brain Development

Now concerning your baby’s brain development, there are three (3) main parts of the human brain, they are:

Brainstem and cerebellum: which regulates the body’s breathing, reflexes, heart rate, blood pressure, and most importantly, connects the brain to the spinal cord.
Limbic system: located on top of the brainstem and controls many various functions, which include emotion, thirst, hunger, learning memory, and the body’s daily rhythms.

Cerebral cortex: divided into left and right hemispheres and is located on top of the limbic system. It is composed of the following:

Occipital lobe for vision
The temporal lobe for hearing, language, and social interaction
Frontal lobe for self-regulation, problem solving, memory, and planning.
Parietal lobe for bodily sensations like heat, cold, pressure, and pain.

Brain development for every human starts while still in the womb.

What do you think happens? This is what usually occurs while the action of brain development prompts still a fetus.

During the first trimester, your baby can move around in the womb due to the nerve connections that are built up.

In the second trimester, there is a progression in forming more nerve connections and then brain tissues.

Then in the third trimester, there is an overtake of functioning by the cerebral cortex from the brainstem, which prepares your baby for the ability to learn in the future!

This explains why your baby finds it easy to know your voice and as well see a little, then as time goes on, there is continuity in the growth and development of their brain as they grow over the years.

Read or sing?

This exercise can be done alongside each other and aloud! For a baby who is yet to know what is written in a book or what the pictures in a book mean, it might be easy and preferable for them to focus on easily. bright colors, different patterns, and faces, so when you read or sing a lullaby or nursery rhymes, you are doing your baby the biggest help of relieving and entertaining them.

Early signs of interest in books displayed by your baby?

What are they? Do you observe each time they grab or hold books, then it is obviously a sign!

They can also be interested in pictures, pages, or stories, and your baby comes to the knowledge that pictures represent objects. By twelve(12) months, your little one will begin to respond while you read, make sounds, flip pages, repeat your sound, and even point to objects on a page.

All these can be seen happening to kids between the period of Four (4) to six (6) months and six (6) to Twelve (12) months.

Do you want your child to be able to read very well? If your answer is; YES! I want my child to become an Amazing Reader >>>>>>

When Do Children Start Reading?

How will I know the right time for my kid to start reading? You are not sure if your one(1) year old is capable yet? The process of learning varies at different ages in kids. With just enough skills and extra help, they can successfully learn to read.

The truth is that there’s no given time or best time! So far, learning is a process, so is reading. Some kids can sound out words and recognize words that cannot be sounded out, while for some other kids, reading means they are capable of understanding text and sentences.

This signifies that not all kids are the same, and every child develops reading skills at a different rate. So, at that possible moment that they can make any slight progress in the ability to put words together and identify text, then, of course, they are already ready.

Kids and Challenges They Face While Learning To Read

This can be quite cumbersome for some kids, giving them a tough time as they struggle with recognizing and matching sounds to letters. However, it is not usually the end for them; they would grow to become a full-time reader with just extra time and support.

The introduction of reading instructions plays its role as a challenge for them too.

Common Causes for Reading Problems

The major fault contributing to this problem is usually when you do not read aloud to your child even while being a baby. In some cases, despite doing so, these problems still arise in their elementary years. If such is the case, do not worry a lot because you are not in it alone.

Fortunately, these kids will in no time later, brace up and successfully gain strides in fluency and comprehension when given the proper guide and help.

What then results in these problems? Could it possibly be from a sensory processing disorder? Or is it the problem of being unable to make connections between letter sounds and written words? Some of them will be listed below!

They are commonly caused by:

Autism Spectrum Disorder tends to affect how the brain interprets speech sounds

Irlen Syndrome disrupts the normal abilities of the brain to process visual information in one way or another.
Dyslexia makes a child unable to decode word sounds.

How To Help Your Child Learn To Read

The first step is majorly by practising well at home. It is what you should do for your child as a parent. Then, as a teacher, you can help that child to learn by:

Asking questions: when you do this, you get to talk about things like what you feel or see so that the kids can return the same vibe. Hence, conversation plays a major role and helps mold and develop language skills needed by kids to become strong readers.
Cultivating consistent reading habits in them can be done by getting them books to read every night before bedtime.

Introduction of reading games: which hastens learning skills in a fun way.
Emulating the reading skills used by teachers: you can start taking your child the way the teachers do it in the classroom.

Tutorials and videos: get as far as downloading videos that can help you as a parent learns from reading specialists on how to help your child learn to read.

Make your child choose books of their own choice: allow your child the liberty of getting to read whatever they want to read, could be a comic or a novel.

How should the book I read to my baby look like?

Are you planning on going to the bookstore? Do you want to get your baby a mini-book for bedtime? Are you not sure of what it should look like?

The type of books a baby should read should of course look like “one of a kind” and not just any other books! So here is the way the books should look like:

Books with animations or pictures of babies
Portable and safe enough for your baby to safely put in the mouth, without causing any harm; the likes of soft, waterproof plastic and cloth books.
Books with palpable texture, are easy for your baby to feel!
Bright colorful, Large text and high contrast (black and white pictures) books; easy for your baby to focus on.

How Does Reading aloud Help Students to Develop Literacy Skills

Are you the type that reads aloud? Have you noticed how far you have gone just by reading aloud? This is because somehow when you read aloud, you get to think aloud!

Reading aloud has helped students get good with their Literacy Skills.

By reading aloud, you get to:

Become good in the use of comprehension strategies and can be able to read independently
Develop a unique diction and expression
Emulate the fluency and expression in the literary language used by your instructor or reader because of the way they thoroughly use intonations, expression, and punctuations.

As a student, you will need to practice reading aloud” because it will help in public speaking, acting in theater, speech, and drama.

How to teach phonics to 5 year old

The aim of teaching your child the art of phonics is to enable them to begin to read as quickly and easily as possible, allowing them to access and read whatever they want to read. This exercise is meant to be fun and easy when being carried out.

What then is phonics? This is an ideal tool in which you use letter sounds to help you read words.

Using phonics in the official school curriculum is now widely accepted as research has shown that it works. In the UK, most schools have emulated the use of this teaching skill( the use of phonics), and in pre-school, children are trained to start developing their listening skills so that later on, they can turn the different sounds into words!.

Ways by which you can teach a 5-year-old

They include:

By using fun flashcards to do activities with your child like playing games, focusing on sounds and letters patterns in which they are learning.
Give them your best in encouraging them; you can start by praising your child anytime they try to tackle a tricky word when using phonics and tell them the right words to use when they do not seem to get it right.
Consider finding out whose letter sounds they are finding difficult to learn, then ask your child’s teacher to focus on that particular sound with your child.

Facts About Reading To Your Child

Get a book, use your fingers to point out the text, read aloud to your child! This book can be a storybook or a picture book.

Babies and young children normally get more relaxed anytime they hear you sing them rhymes, songs and read out books to them. Hence, they enjoy rhythm and repetition.
The development of your baby’s brain, language, and emotions depends and improves when they are being read to.
You satisfy their curiosity and lighten their imaginations whenever you read to your child.
They come to the full knowledge and understanding about the world and their own culture, including other cultures.
They grow up to value books and stories.
Your child gets super cognitive skills such as focusing, listening, concentrating, and socializing well.

Effects of Not Reading To Your Child

What happens when they are among their peers? Why is reading to them so important? For some reason, if you decide not to read to your child right from the earliest age or stage, be ready to bear the risk you have made them vulnerable to because when they get outside, they become;