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Five for Families!

Researchers have identified five areas where the home and family can influence reading development in children:

1. Value Placed on Literacy: Parents show their own interest in reading by reading in front of their children and encouraging them to read, too.
2. Press for Achievement: Parents let children know that they are expected to achieve and help them develop reading skills.
3. Availability and Use of Reading Material: Homes with reading and writing materials for children—such as books, newspapers, writing paper, pencils, and crayons—create more opportunities to develop literacy.
4. Reading with Children: Parents who read to preschoolers and listen as older children read aloud help children become readers.
5. Opportunities for Verbal Interaction: The quantity and content of conversation between parents and children influence language and vocabulary development, both building blocks for later reading success.

Source: Hess Holloway, 1984. Family and School as Educational Institutions

For more information on what families can do, see Start Early, Finish Strong, How to Help Every Child Become a Reader.

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