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Author: Eshwaaree C Yogarrajah

DEVELOPING PRE-WRITING SKILLS FROM AN EARLY AGE

DEVELOPING PRE-WRITING SKILLS FROM AN EARLY AGE

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Watching children develop pre-writing skills such as learning to recognise alphabets, and using a crayon or pencil to draw or write for the first time is a proud milestone for parents and caregivers to see and be a part of. Some studies found that such skills are the initial foundation for an individual to be able to learn (Dove, Neuharth-Pritchett, Wright, & Wallinga, 2015; Senechal & LeFreve, 2002). Pre-writing skills are early literacy skills that start to develop after the age of one. These pre-writing skills include scribbling, copying lines and strokes, recognising and writing letters, and drawing shapes (e.g., circles, triangles and squares). Building such pre-writing skills can help children to develop their awareness of writing letters together to form words and writing their own names.  

Pre-writing skills develop around the age of three to four years old with letter recognition and the understanding that each letter of the alphabet represents a particular sound (Shrier, 2013). Researchers found that when parents and caregivers engage with their children over simple activities like forming letter shapes in the air and using lines to represent letters and words, these activities can be useful tools for parents to scaffold and aid their child’s learning of alphabet letter shaping, emergent writing, alphabet knowledge, letter-sound knowledge, and print motivation (i.e., a child’s interest in reading and in books) (Neuman & Neuman, 2009). 

How can we help to develop early literacy skills in children from a young age? 

There are many ways we can help develop literacy skills in our children from a young age. When developing pre-writing skills, fun fine-motor activities can be a part of our children’s routine and our interactions with them. Here are some ideas! 

Examples of activities for Pre-writing Skills 
   Activity  What does it do?  How does it help? 
Drawing with thick markers or crayons  Build a palmar grasp  Practise scribbling and imitating vertical or horizontal lines 
Putting and removing clothes pegs in a colour matching activity or using spray bottles to spray water on to plants or for fun artwork  Build finger dexterity skills  Practise three finger hold for holding thin pencils, pens or colour pencils 
Using writing instruments to make vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines, and shapes like circles, crosses, squares and triangles  Build shape identification and letter identification skills  Practise imitating and copying of strokes that they can use to later print letters and words 
Hand-over-hand joint writing activities  Build print awareness skills   Practise writing uppercase and lowercase letters and learning to recognise and write own name and words  

 

Key Takeaways:  

We can create many opportunities inside or outside the home environment to help our children develop the emergent writing skills. These activities can be embedded into daily routines to scaffold the development of their writing skills. 

  1. Having paper and pens to write or draw on standby when outdoors  
  2. Talking as you read then scribbling or drawing together during routines (e.g., before bedtime or after snack time)   
  3. Discussing what you and your children saw during a day or what your child’s favourite colours or book characters are and making shapes or lines out of the discussion 

Through our conversations and interactions with our young ones in different environments using readily available resources and materials, learning for our children indeed becomes much more enriching and engaging.  

 

 

References: 

Dove, M. K., Neuharth-Pritchett, S., Wright, D. W., & Wallinga, C. (2015). Parental involvement routines and former Head Start children’s literacy outcomes. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 29(2), 173-186. 

Neuman, M. and Neuman, D. (2009). More than just storybooks: Promoting emergent literacy skills in the Home. Childhood Education, 85(4). 257-259.   

Senechal, M., & LeFevre, J. A. (2002). Parental involvement in the development of children’s reading skill: A five‐year longitudinal study. Child Development, 73(2), 445-460 

Shrier, C. (November 2013). ABC’s of early literacy: The importance of developing early literacy skills. Retrieved from:  https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/abcs_of_early_literacy_the_importance_of_developing_ early_literacy_skills 

Increasing Child Language Ability through Parent-Child Talk

Increasing Child Language Ability through Parent-Child Talk

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As parents, we all love talking to our children and even more so, hearing our children talk to us. Research shows that parent-child talk contributes to language ability in early childhood. Language ability is identified to be among the best predictors of school readiness and later school success (Hoff 2013, Burchinal et al. 2016). Language ability in early childhood is also influenced by exposure to language used by caregivers.

Why is parent-child talk important?

The parent-child talk relationship has received much attention especially since Hart and Risley’s (1995) important research, which estimated that, by the time children are 4 years old, those who face socioeconomic status (SES) challenges in their home environments possibly have heard 30 million words fewer than their more affluent peers. Preliminary evidence from the Thirty Million Words Initiative (Thirty Million Words Initiative) suggested that when parents talk to their children in daily life routines regularly, this increased the number of words and conversational turns children produced during parent-child interactions.

How can we categorise parent-child talk?

Research has suggested the following categories of parent-child talk that give children language learning opportunities as early as 2 years old:

1.Quantity of language input:

Number of words in a sentence, number of new words paired with gestures like pointing

2.Quality of language-based parent child interactions: 

Rhymes and songs during back-and-forth conversations, letter sounds, and word sounds that children can be exposed to during daily routines or outings

 

Opportunities to improve the quantity and quality of children’s language experiences are not restricted to any home or classroom contexts. A group of researchers (Ridge et al., 2015) took an innovative approach to spark parent–child conversations in supermarkets by putting up signs such as “What is your favourite vegetable?” and “Where does the milk come from?” They found that such measures and ideas can increase the quantity and quality of talk between parents/caregivers and children in both inside and outside home environments regardless of socioeconomic status. They also supported the language experiences for these families and building language abilities in their children.

Key takeaways:

How can we increase child language output in parent-child relationships regardless of socioeconomic status?

Reading picture books or books with both words and pictures for children to engage in language and literacy learning opportunities such as receptive vocabulary, oral language skills, letter-word identification, and how letters are written and look like (Christian et al. 1998, Park 2008, Froiland et al. 2014).

Utilising talking opportunities in daily life routines (mealtimes, shower times, grocery runs, bedtimes) regularly to increase the number of words and back and forth conversation turns produced during parent-child interactions (Pace, Luo, Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff,2017).

 
Creating instances of language learning both inside and outside the home with parents/caregivers. Providing a variety of textured books and toys at home, visiting places like the zoo or the park, and discussing these experiences during walks or while waiting for the bus can all enhance language learning. Even a single trip to the public library has a significant impact on enriching children’s reading experiences.

 

Enriched language experiences can improve children’s overall readiness for school and build in them a love for their language, from a young age.

 

 

 

References

Burchinal, M., Foster, T. J., Bezdek, K. G., Bratsch-Hines, M., Blair, C., Vernon-Feagans, L., & Family Life Project Investigators. (2020). School-entry skills predicting school-age academic and social–emotional trajectories. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 51, 67-80.

Christian, K., Morrison, F. J., & Bryant, F. B. (1998). Predicting kindergarten academic skills: Interactions among child care, maternal education, and family literacy environments. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13(3), 501-521.

Froiland, J. M., Powell, D. R., & Diamond, K. E. (2014). Relations among neighborhood social networks, home literacy environments, and children’s expressive vocabulary in suburban at-risk families. School Psychology International, 35(4), 429-444.

Hirsh-Pasek, K., Adamson, L. B., Bakeman, R., Owen, M. T., Golinkoff, R. M., Pace, A., Yust, K S P., & Suma, K. (2015). The contribution of early communication quality to low-income children’s language success. Psychological science, 26(7), 1071-1083.

Hart, B., & Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: Socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech. Child Development, 74, 1368–1378.

Pace, A., Luo, R., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2017). Identifying pathways between socioeconomic status and language development. Annual review of linguistics, 3(2017), 285-308.

Park, H. (2008). The varied educational effects of parent-child communication: A comparative study of fourteen countries. Comparative education review, 52(2), 219-243.

Ridge, K. E., Weisberg, D. S., Ilgaz, H., Hirsh‐Pasek, K. A., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2015). Supermarket speak: Increasing talk among low‐socioeconomic status families. Mind, Brain, and Education, 9(3), 127-135.

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