Page 4 - teachYourChildToRead

4 Teach your child to read

in the third trimester of pregnancy; this is evident as all newborn babies
show a preference for their mother’s voice at birth.

“Third-trimester foetuses experience their mothers’ speech sounds.
Newborns prefer the acoustic properties of a particular speech passage if
their mothers repeatedly recite that passage while they are pregnant³”.

When we learn language, first we learn to listen, then to speak and then
to read and write. Listening to language is the groundwork for later
development of reading and writing skills.

Listening is the basis for effective communication as baby’s brains
are encoded to learn language.

Communication - the first twelve months

Baby communicates
Initially crying is an infant’s primary means of communication. An
infant’s cry is designed to elicit a response from adults, making it very
difficult to ignore.

Adult listens

If you listen carefully when an infant cries you will notice that the cry
varies when they are hungry, tired or in pain. Infants use different cries
to communicate their needs. Adults respond to baby’s cries by meeting
their particular needs, letting them know they are safe and loved.

Adult communicates
Adults also communicate care and affection to new born babies by
talking, singing, humming and through physical touch.

TIP: Talk right from the beginning about what you are doing
and what is happening throughout the day. Talking not only
promotes language development, hearing your gentle voice is
also soothing for infants.