Helpful Links
Here are some helpful references and links to sources BabyRead uses to guide our program.
The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction, Meghan Cox Gurdon, January 2021.
This outstanding book explains the cognitive and social behavior benefits of reading aloud. It includes recent neurological research on the positive impact of reading aloud. Available in paperback and audio book format from several sources.
Some recommended books from one of BabyRead’s Book Coordinators, Anne Fogel
Brightly website, https://www.readbrightly.com
Provides book recommendations for Babies & Toddlers (0-2), Pre-K (3-5), growing readers (6-8), Tweeners (9-12) and Teens (13+).
BabyTalk
A newsletter that is distributed, free, monthly. Each issue features high quality, readable available research and resources, in English and Spanish, on children from birth to five years. To subscribe, email Camille Cattlet at Commile.catlett@ unc.edu.
Oconee County First Steps/Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Partnership, https://oconeefirststeps.org/dolly-partons-imagination-library/
Oconee County First Steps has partnered with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to provide free hand-selected, high-quality, age-appropriate books each month to registered children. The above link is to the Imagination library Registration page.
Kandia N. Lewis, PhD (Reviewer), “Reading Books to Babies”, https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/reading-babies.html?ref=search Reviewed August 2019.
Provides the benefits of reading to your baby aloud; tips on when and how to read to your baby, and what to read. It explains how your baby responds to books between 4-6 months and 6-12 months.
Cleveland Health Clinic, “The Benefits of Reading to Babies”, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/the-benefits-of-reading-to-babies/ October 27, 2020 / Pediatrics.
According to the article, it’s never too early or too late to start reading to your baby. Provides the benefits of reading, how and what to read, and recommends establishing a daily routine.
Justine Lorelie LoMonaco, Motherly, “5 types of baby books that boost their brain and teach them to love reading”, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/the-benefits-of-reading-to-babies/ September 16, 2021.
Provides book recommendations for newborns (high contrast books), 4- to 6-month-old infants (tactile books), 6- to-12 month old babies (rhyming books) and books for older babies and toddlers. Recommends establishing a bedtime story routine for older children and provides helpful reading tips.
Grow by WebMD, “How to Talk to Your Baby”, https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/baby-talk-language#1
Highlights importance of talking for brain development. Provides several tips on reading approaches. Recommends limiting the amount of TV they see and hear because of potential impacts.
Jeff Grabmeier, Ohio State News, “A ‘million word gap’ for children that aren’t read to at home”, https://news.osu.edu/a-million-word-gap-for-children-who-arent-read-to-at-home/ April 04, 2019.
Highlights research by Ohio State University’s Jessica Logan and others that states young children that are read to will hear about 1.4 million more words by age 5 than kids that were never read to.
AAP 2016 Policy Statement. “Media and Young Minds”, Council on Communications and Media Pediatrics, November 2016, 138(5)20162591; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-2591
Provides recommendations on screen use for 0-18 months, 18-24 months and 2 - 5 years; no media use 1 hour before bedtime, at dinner and during interactive play time between parents/caregivers and the child.
Kim Morrow, Development Specialist, The Early Learning Institute, “Baby Speech Development – Communication Without Words”, February 10, 2020
Discusses how babies communicate through sounds, facial expressions and gestures/body movements.
Mary L. Gavin, MD, KidsHealth / for Parents /Learning, Play and Your 4-to 7-Month-Old, https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/learn47m.html; reviewed July 2019
Discusses what your baby is learning between 4- and 7-months old, and developing “object permanence” (knowing that something can exist, even when it’s out of sight). Recommends introducing books if parents/caregivers haven’t already done so to include the types of books.
CDC Act Early Guidelines; https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html
Provides snapshots of your baby at 2, 6, 9, 12 and 18 months, and 2-5 years. Each age group contains 3 sections: What Most Children Do By this Age (Social/Emotional, Language/Communication, Cognitive, Movement/Physical Development), You Know Your Child Best (potential development issues), and What You Do for the particular age group. Reading and talking are highly recommended. Website includes a downloadable app for smart phones.
American Academy of Pediatrics healthy children.org website, the AAP’s official parenting website, https://healthychildren.org/English/Pages/default.aspx
Provides a wealth of knowledge including another source of developmental milestones for various age groups.
Motherly/Parenting website, https://www.mother.ly/parenting/
The MOTHERLY website provides a wealth of information on pregnancy, parenting, childhood ages & stages, books & videos, and online courses. It also includes shopping options.
American Academy of Pediatrics Journal, “Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice”, August 2014; https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/134/2/404
Provides the benefits of reading regularly to young children. Points out several studies about the literacy and developmental factors in children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Discusses the Reach Out and Read (ROR) model. States AAP position that it supports federal and state funding for children’s books to be provided at pediatric health supervision visits to children at or near the poverty threshold.
Perri Klass, MD. “Screen Use Tied to Children’s Brain Development”, New York Times, November 4, 2019
Provides results of recent brain scan studies in infants. A quote: “If there is a direct link, it may have less to do with the screens themselves, and more to do with what screen time may be replacing in children.”
Eleanor Goldberg. “There’s evidence that high levels of screen time in preschoolers may hinder brain development”, November 6, 2019; www.insider.com.
Provides results of the brain scan study. Quote: “Screens themselves may not be inherently harmful, however, The New York Times reported. The issue could be that screens are replacing activities that promote brain development, including communicating with other people and reading.”
“In April [2019], the World Health Organization also issued its first guidance for screen time in children: Children younger than 18 months shouldn’t be exposed to any screens outside of video chatting. Children 5 and younger should get no more than an hour of screen time a day.”
BabyRead Reading Tips
Provides reading tips for from birth to five. Compiled from local experts & selected online sources. “Reading Tips from Some of Our Experts & Other Sources.” Includes sources.
South Carolina Early Learning Standards Interagency Stakeholder Group. South Carolina Early Learning Standards. (2017)