Experts tell Fox 4 the process of reading and understanding written words starts before a baby even turns one year old. This is important, because studies show kids who grow up with books in their homes have a major advantage over children who do not.
Fox 4 is owned by E.W. Scripps, and every year for “National Reading Day,” our company’s charitable organization, the Scripps Howard Foundation, commits to raising money to put books in the hands of kids in need through our "If you give a child a book..." Campaign.
“National Reading Day” is in January, but Fox 4 is raising money now to make sure these kids get the books they need and deserve.
Even before the age of one, babies are already laying a foundation for a love of reading and learning so much about the world around them.
“When children come into the world, they are naturally born curious,” Susan Block, the CEO of the Early Learning Coalition of Southwest Florida, said.
She said books provide a way to satisfy a child’s curiosity, so they learn to ask questions and seek out more information.
“{With babies} the first thing that they’re hearing, oral language, their mommies cooing and talking, and making loving noises. Children start to understand that words express our feelings. And from there, we understand that those oral words are now on paper, they're in books. And from there, they start to put it all together,” she said.
Babies are like sponges, taking in and learning everything about the world around them.
Dr. Elizabeth Elliott, a professor of Early Childhood at Florida Gulf Coast University, said even just learning to flip through the pages of a book is an important step.
“Infants, we have vinyl books and books that are made of cloth that they learn the process of reading. And reading is a skill that children will need for the rest of their lives, and also is the single most predictor of future success,” she told Fox 4.
Dr. Elliott said another key predictor of future success is a child’s ability to learn the alphabet.
“Learning those 26 letters, but knowing that there's uppercase and lowercase. So teaching children the basics of early literacy sets the foundation for the future,” she said.
So even before the age of one, babies are already hard at work, laying the framework for the rest of their education. That’s the goal of Fox 4’s “If you give a child a book…” Campaign: to do just that for every child in Southwest Florida.
“Providing that foundation for young children, and your Foundation of providing books to children is basically helping set them up for future success,” Dr. Elliott said.
If you’d like to donate, click here. All donations will help kids in Southwest Florida.
