Reading and its Effects on Development Essay -- Early Childhood Develo

Reading and its Effects on DevelopmentOver the years the attention focused on children from birth to three years has increased dramatically. Actually, it was in the 1970s that researchers began to believe that reading to infants would help to stimulate their growth and development. Up to the decade of the 1970s numerous people believed that infants lacked any intellectual abilities. Some people also believed that an infants hearing and vision were not operative in the first a couple of(prenominal) months of life. But, over the years studies have proven otherwise. The first three years of life have been proven to be the most slender years in a childs development. One area looked at by researchers and teachers are is how reading to infants and toddlers affects their development. Researchers and child development specialists advocate that parents begin reading to their children, blush from birth, because it helps the childs brain to develop more quickly and aids in the develo pment of langu come on skills. Brain development is very crucial in the first three years of life. Experts now say its the first three years of a childs life that may adapt the key to the future (Phillips, 1998). Infants are born with about one hundred billion brain cells, and when the child is not stimulated the brain cells die off. The critical period of brain development is within the first six months of life the sensitive period of brain development includes birth to three years of age (Murray, n.d). At three months the brain has the potential to distinguish several hundred spoken sounds. Over the next few months the brain organizes itself to recognize only the sounds it hears (Phillips, 1998). This shows that if a child is not exposed to literature and other ... ...We Make a Difference? Pediatrics. Retrieved April 22, 2003, from http//www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0950/4_105/62023007/print.jhtml Maxcey, M.(1998, April 29). Reading to Children Stimulates Early Brain Devel opment. Retrieved April 20, 2003, from http//www.agnews.tamu.edu/stories/CFAM/Apr2998a.htm Murray, B. (n.d). Understanding brain development and too soon learning New research better inform the nature vs. nurture issue. FACSNET. Retrieved April 23, 2003, from http//www.facsnet.org/tools.sci_tech/biotek/eliot.php Phillips, A. (1998, April 27). Babys brain First three years of life may hold the key to childs future. Courier. Retrieved April 22, 2003, from http//www.wcfcourier.com/life98/980426first.html Porter, P. (2003, April 6). Early Brain Development. Retrieved April 20, 2003, from http//www.educarer.com/brain.htm