When Children Are Young Their Parents Are The Number One

An individual’s interaction with their physical and social environment can have profound influences on the development and the long-term effects of the individual particularly in terms of language comprehension and usage. Within different environments, the understanding and utilization of language will be differing based on the circumstances. In Shirley Heath’s study, “What no bedtime story means: Narrative skills at home and school,” Heath discusses on how interactions between the parent and child through the avenue of bedtime stories promotes significant development in the communication, language, literacy, and narratives of the child. Heath focuses on how three literate communities in the Southeastern United States differ in “their patterns

In addition to the implications of the physical environment on child development, the social environment of the home also has a significant influence. Differences in home learning environments between families of higher and lower SES account for up to half of the effect of SES on cognitive development of preschool children (Duncan & Brooks, 2000). Low SES is often associated with a lack of stimulating resources to aide in fostering cognitive development. Ford and Lerner (1992) state that humans are self-constructing organisms that thrive on a diversity of experiences therefore making such resources crucial in order to engage cognitive arousal mechanisms. Learning materials and experiences allow for opportunities of social exchange and to engage those mechanisms in a productive way (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002). Guo and Harris (2000) attribute the lack of resources to the fact that many elements of cognitive stimulation need to be purchased. Income often influences the amount and quality of reading material available to the child. Moreover, low income limits the amount of educational outings the child can participate in like going to the zoo, museum, or artistic performances (Guo & Harris, 2000). The impact of a lack of resources escalates in response to an increase in negative life events, like family dissolution, and risk conditions including household crowding or the presence of a mentally ill parent (Brooks-Gunn, Klebanov, & Liaw 1995; Sameroff,

There are many different aspects of environment that can affect the development of children. One major environmental impact that influences the development of a child is the neighborhood they are raised in. Within the neighborhood there are several other aspect of influence. Where a child is raised can affect their behavior, attitudes, emotions, personality, values, health, and so much more. This can be seen in their personal lives at home to their social lives around others in classrooms. The affects of a child’s development due to their environment can be seen in both a positive and negative aspect. The neighborhood that a child is raised in can be very critical in their

Socioeconomic status (SES) has an enormous impact on language development. As said by Erika Hoff, author of Language Development, “there is abundant evidence that” (102) there is a gap in language development when comparing children in high SES homes to children in low SES homes. An arguably more important topic is why the gap in language development exists. There are many potential reasons, but the main reason why the language gap exists is that parents in low SES homes don’t talk to their children to same way or the same amount as parents in high SES homes.

“Literacy learning has a profound and lasting effect on the social and academic lives of children. Their future educational opportunities and career choices are directly related to literacy ability. Since early childhood is the period when language develops most rapidly, it is imperative that young children are provided with a variety of developmentally appropriate literacy experiences throughout each day, and that the classroom environment is rich with language, both spoken and printed. Early childhood teachers are responsible for both understanding the developmental continuum of language and literacy and for supporting each child’s literacy development.

Through this week learning resources, I have learned that there are evidences that demonstrate that when a child has limited experiences he or she is more likely to have difficult comprehending what is read. It is why early childhood professionals affirm that oral language is the foundation for literacy development. Everything that children learn about speaking and listening they use for writing and reading and what they learn from writing and reading they use in listening and speaking. In other words, oral language and literacy develop simultaneously. When parents provide rich language and literacy reinforcement at home, children do better in school than those who do not. It is also known for early childhood professionals that for a child with limited experiences is more difficult comprehending what is read. For example, a child who has being exposed to many environments like a farm or like a museum will have more mentally engagement in classrooms activities about things he or she already know that children who have not had experience in those environments. Many researches showed that children that have not have a literacy development or an oral language development years before formal schooling, are less likely to be successful beginning readers, opening an achievement lag that might last through the primary grades. Some of the reasons why parents are not actively involved into their children’s educations are their socioeconomic or legal status. For example, in an immigrant family sometimes both parents have to work and sometimes they have to work two shifts. I have known families where children are the whole day in school and with nannies. Those children do not develop any skills that help them to succeed at the time of attending forming school.

The environment that a child is exposed to is very influential, as a high-quality living environment has been positively linked to cognitive development (Guo & Harris, 2000). Therefore those children living in poverty are at a further disadvantage due to their low-quality living environment.

Emergent literacy represents a shift in thinking about young children 's reading. It stresses the relationship between the preschool and beginning reading phases, among concerns and issues of early-childhood educators and those of reading teachers, and between the home and school environment (Teale, 1995). Marie Clay (1977) first used the term emergent literacy. In the mid-1980s emergent literacy theory gained importance as a way to explain the beginning of children 's reading skills. Emergent literacy replaced the term reading readiness through the 1980s-1990s. Emergent literacy is based upon the notion that children learn literacy skills through print. Teale and Sulzby (1991) proposed that emergent literacy be recognized as a new model for conceptualizing young children 's written language development. Teale and Sulzby defined emergent literacy as "the reading and writing concepts, behaviors, and dispositions that precede and develop into conventional literacy" (Teale, 1995, p.107).

Both Bloom (1964) and Hunt (1961) argued that low SES children are not exposed to enough cognitively stimulating material thus limiting their cognitive growth, and future ability at school. However this is still a current concern as Bradley et al, (2003) found parents of a low SES were less able to purchase reading or learning materials for their children or take them to cultural or educational trips. Moreover Sirin (2005) concluded that children from low SES families have limited access to stimulating materials and resources, which was then supported by Milne & Plourde (2006) who found children living in poor neighbourhoods usually have no school library, public library or bookstore within a practical distance from their homes or schools. Low SES children were found to live in over-crowded environments with many siblings, which resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of time the parents could spend with each child teaching them the fundamentals for school (Milne & Plourde 2006) which puts them at an even further disadvantage. However in comparison high SES parents engage in more conversations with their children, read to their children more and provide more learning experiences for their children (Shonkoff & Philips, 2000). Furthermore according to Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn (2000) it is

The Department of Education and Training and TISC have produced research that has indicated that children from low socio economic areas on average have far fewer students that enter university. The reason for this is that these parents have no previous experience with higher education and often don’t value this education in the same way parents from affluent areas do, hence the children do not have the role models to follow. Many of these families also do not have the finances to access school of choice and provide resources within the home that may enhance their development. Many of these parents also lack their own educational knowledge that allows them an understanding of how a child’s development processes. A simple example of this may be the fact that these parents may not understand the value of early intervention with developmental processes such as reading (How Kids Develop, 2008) i.e. simply reading to them each night.

Literacy consists of a range of ways to understand and decode symbols for communication in a community (Barratt-Pugh & Rohl, 2000, p. 25). Emergent literacy is a term used to describe how young children interact with books, reading and writing (What is Emergent Literacy, 2006, p.1). Emerging literacy is an ongoing process and to ensure this process is successful children need to be stimulated through active engagement with books and writing opportunities.

When a child is growing up, their environment plays a very important in role on the skills that they obtain. Some of the skills to prepare them for their future would be the emergent literacy skills which include phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, print concepts, narrative awareness, vocabulary, and oral language. These skills can be obtained through the home environment and early childhood education settings. Emergent literacy skills are developed before kindergarten and they predict the child’s later success in reading. There are some factors that could affect if the child is able to obtain literacy skills. Socioeconomic status is a major factor that could set back a child from obtaining the skills. Socioeconomic status would affect what resources the child would have available at home and if the parent or guardian is able to give the child the necessary language and literacy exposure because they are always at work. There are also some other factors such as a child having a language impairment and disadvantaged literacy experiences.

Every mother has their own opinion when it comes to how to raise their children. This paper emphasizes the important role a children’s environment plays in

Households started out with mothers staying home to take care of their children; now households have both parents working or are single-parent households. With that in mind, working mothers are less likely to physically and emotionally attend to their child’s needs and the consequence of their neglect is that their child becomes more susceptible to lower cognitive development, especially during the ages of 0-3. On top of that, neglect prevents an interactive environment for a child to learn. Social networks besides from home can be influential in a negative or positive way, but a home acts like a safety net to help steer confuse and lost individuals out of harm. Families are the first social network a child has; positive social networks can create a second home to a child, but a negative social network can isolate a child or slow their psychological, social, and cognitive development.

By the mid-1980s emergent reading/literacy became accepted among researchers, early educators, and reading teachers. Emergent literacy appeared as an ERIC descriptor and was recognized as a justifiable area of work in the conventions of the National Association for the Education of the Young Children, the National Reading Conference, the International Reading Association, and other professional organizations (Teale, 1995). According to Teale, the emergent literacy model for preschool reading instruction had far-reaching implications. Daily interactions between parents or other caregivers and children in the home environment were emphasized. The shift to an emergent literacy perspective in the preschool and pre-kindergarten environments meant that reading needed to be taught in those settings (Teale, 1995; Roberts, Jurgens, Burchinal, 2005). In other words, adults in those environments must be considered as the child