By Katelyn Fry


This past weekend I FaceTime’d with my sister, Bonnie, and my two-year-old niece, Ava. No more than a few weeks usually go by between our phone dates, but with each call, Ava’s improved speech makes me feel like it’s been months. On our last FaceTime, Bonnie told me that she had read to Ava every single night since she first brought her home from the hospital, which brought me to wonder: Could there be a relationship between the two?

The answer is yes. A 2014 study by the American Association of Pediatrics had children ages 3-5 to undergo brain scans while listening to a story. Researchers found that in both the younger and older participants, being read to activated the part of the brain associated with “understanding words and concepts and also in memory." According to Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus, program director of the Reading and Literacy Discovery Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and co-author of the study, this suggests that “the development of this area starts at a very young age.” As a result of these findings, the AAP established a new policy in which pediatricians would start encouraging parents and caregivers to read to their children from birth, officially recognizing the act of reading as a “matter of health…essential for brain development" and not just a leisurely activity.

KidsHealth.org adds that early exposure to reading enhances a baby’s communication, listening, vocabulary, memory and social skills, and states that “Kids whose [caregivers] frequently talk/read to them know more words by age 2 than children who have not been read to.” KidsHealth also reminds us that one of the best parts of reading to children at a young age is that it allows them to learn about the world they live in “in a fun way,” and that is where us Aunties come in.

Reading to/with your baby niece or nephew is an intimate activity, one that KidsHealth recommends cuddling for, allowing them to feel “safe, warm and connected to you.” The more you and your little one share these precious moments together, not only are you strengthening your bond to one another, but he/she will start to associate reading with the comfort that you bring to them. http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/reading-babies.html#

You may be imagining a picture book when you think of reading to an infant niece or nephew, but yet another benefit of early reading is that there is no limit on what you can read to a baby! The importance of reading to babies at such an early age does not come from what you are saying, but how you are saying it. Your niece or nephew has no idea what the words you are saying actually mean, but, according to Linda DeProperzio of Parents.com, by listening to you read, they are "exposed to feelings through the different sounds you use when reading.” The baby is slowly learning that certain sounds mean certain things, and that words have any meaning at all.

During your next visit, read everything aloud, from the baby's cereal box to the instructional manual for the toy you just brought over. Read aloud instead of in your head and your niece or nephew will be building their language skills with every word.

Photo: evgeny atamanenko
Published: November 11, 2016