The Relationship Between Language and School Readiness
Do you believe “school readiness” is primarily academic? – your child is ready for the Early Learning Program once he or she knows his or her numbers and letters?
Do you believe it is just a matter of your child’s maturity level? - your child’s chronological age?
These factors are important but are only a small part of school readiness. The skills a child needs to succeed in most kindergarten programs are:
- being able to communicate,
- follow instructions, and
- interact cooperatively with others.
A child’s readiness for school is made up of multiple components and shaped by many factors, including communication (listening and speaking) and early literacy skills. Communication includes a child’s understanding and production of oral language and vocabulary knowledge. Early literacy skills include print awareness, appreciation of stories and books, early writing, and the connection of letters to sounds.
“The more language children hear as infants and toddlers, the larger their vocabularies and the higher their IQ scores in the preschool years and beyond.”
(Hart and Risley, 1995)
“Research tells us that right from birth, positive learning opportunities in the context of warm caring relationships contribute significantly to a child’s capacity to learn, both in school and throughout life.”
(Lullabies to literacy – McCauley Child Development Centre 2002)