Jaime, Age 7 Months, Learning Literacy Skills

To Think About:

What do you see Jamie doing?

How does Amanda read and respond to Jamie’s actions and sounds?

What do you think Jamie is learning about books and reading as Amanda reads aloud?

What the Experts Say About This Interaction

What Jamie does:

• Uses his sounds and gestures to show he wants to explore the book with his mouth.
• Persists in his attempts to communicate to his mother how he’d like to explore the book.

What Amanda does:

• Reads Jamie’s signals and lets him mouth the book. This lets Jamie know his mom values and respects his way of exploring.

• Makes the reading a back-and-forth experience by giving Jamie time to respond

Think About How Your Child Is Learning These Skills

• How does your child like to explore books? (For example, mouthing, pointing, turning pages, acting out the story.)

• How does she let you know what books she likes?

• What do you think she is learning from reading books?

• How do you help your child understand and love books?