Preview of Our New Informational Website: The Longitudinal Effects of Early Reading
Dear Facebook Friends,
We will be launching a new Early Learning informational website in December. Here is a preview of the website – an article titled “The Longitudinal Effects of Early Readingâ€.
Here are some of the other topics that we will cover:
Research: (including Theoretical Rationale for Teaching Babies Written Language, Scientific Evidence that YBCR Works, Longitudinal Research on Early Reading, Current State of Reading in the US, Dr. Titzer’s Research);
How It Works: (What is Multi-Sensory Learning and Why Does it Matter?, Misconceptions about YBCR, YBCR vs. Traditional Approaches to Teaching Reading, Early Literacy Milestones when Using this Multi-Sensory Approach, How to Use the YBCR Products including various Viewing Schedules);
Dr. Titzer’s Early Learning Tips: (Multi-Sensory Learning, Vocabulary, Talking, Reading, Math, Music, Second Languages, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Overall Cognitive Development, Babies and Television);
Media: (Media Kit, How Parents Can Help Promote Early Literacy);
News/Events: (A calendar of events, early learning news)
We will also have FAQs, Contact, and About pages and a link to this Facebook page. Later, we will introduce a new .org website to help spread early literacy around the world.
Please take a few minutes to read about the findings of longitudinal studies on early reading. We would also love your input on ideas that you have for our new websites, so please feel free to make any suggestions. Thank you.
The Team at Infant Learning
The Longitudinal Effects of Early Reading by Dr. Bob Titzer
The studies conducted on this topic report that when children are taught to read in the first four years of life regardless of the method, they have long-term advantages compared to children who are taught at more traditional ages.
The earlier the child is taught to read, the better the child reads:
In the 1960s, Durkin conducted longitudinal studies over a six year period. Children who were taught to read at ages 3 or 4 read better than children of the same IQ who were taught at ages 5 or 6 and those with the same IQs who were taught at ages 7 or 8 were even farther behind. Six years later, the children who were taught to read earlier, were still ahead of the same-IQ children who were taught later. In addition, the earlier the child was taught to read, the more likely the child enjoyed reading.
In a five-year longitudinal study, Sénéchal and LeFevre (2002) found: “Parent involvement in teaching children about reading and writing words was related to the development of early literacy skills. Early literacy skills directly predicted word reading at the end of grade 1 and indirectly predicted reading in grade 3. Word reading at the end of grade 1 predicted reading comprehension in grade 3.â€
At age 7: What is the best predictor for success 35 years later?
A study from the United Kingdom shows that early math and reading abilities have very long-term benefits. Children who performed better on reading and math tests at age 7 were more likely to earn higher wages later in life according to researchers at the University of Edinburgh. The team analyzed data from the 1958 National Child Development Study in the UK. They found children with early reading and math skills at age seven had better jobs, better housing, and higher incomes at age 42. Children who advanced by just one grade level in reading by age seven earned an average of 5000 GBP (about 8000 USD) per year more at age 42 than their classmates. People usually state that there are many confounding variables and the early reading or math skills were probably not the main factor associated with doing well 42 years later. However Ritchie and Bates (2013, p. 6) state that “mathematical and reading ability at age 7 are substantially and positively correlated with SES at age 42, independently of relevant confounding variables.†In other words, it was the actual reading and math abilities at age 7 – not just the child’s socio-economic status, the child’s IQ, or other factors – that had a lasting impact on the person’s life.
Ritchie and Bates state, “Achievement in mathematics and reading was also significantly associated with intelligence scores, academic motivation, and duration of education. These findings suggest effects of improved early mathematics and reading on SES attainment across the life span.†They noted that early reading and math skills had a larger impact on future socio-economic status than intelligence, education level, and social status in childhood. This study makes a very strong case for teaching early reading and math skills. They call it a route to social mobility because initial socio-economic status was not as important as whether or not the child had early reading or math abilities at age 7.
According to six longitudinal studies, what is the best predictor for academic success throughout elementary school, middle school, and high school? (Clue: It is NOT the parents’ IQs, the child’s IQ, and it is NOT the families’ socio-economic statuses.)
Strong cases for developing early high reading and math abilities can easily be made. From a meta-analysis of six large longitudinal studies (4 in the US, 1 in the UK, and 1 in Canada), economist Greg J. Duncan, PhD, of Northwestern University, and many co-authors learned that early math mastery of numbers (including understanding the order of numbers) best predicted later success. Early language skills – including reading – were next in predicting later achievement. (Remember by “early†here they mean learning by about age 5 years.) A child’s attention-related skills such as the abilities to control hyperactive behavior, to focus on finishing a task, and to be motivated to learn were also important. Behavioral and social problems when entering school did not appear to cause problems with later learning. Duncan et al. (2007) found that performance when entering kindergarten was most associated with long-term academic success in reading and math across all six studies.
According to these six longitudinal studies, the early learning prior to entering school was the best predictor of long-term success in school. In other words, parents should be involved in helping the child learn math and reading skills prior to entering kindergarten because the best indicator of how well a child will do academically through high school is how well the child is doing on math and reading when entering kindergarten.
Early reading ability may actually have a positive causal influence on intelligence according to Harlaar, Hayious-Thomas, and Plomin (2005). The children in their study were not even taught to read during the first years of life in that study. Since about 75% of the mass of the brain has formed by age two, there are obviously much larger possible causal influences on intelligence for babies who learn to read. Dr. Thompson and colleagues found that babies who had consistently used Your Baby Can Read for at least seven months for an average of at least one hour a day did have higher overall cognitive scores than a same-socio-economic status control group who had not used YBCR.
Would 20 or 30 minutes a day of direct instruction of reading during kindergarten be better than a traditional approach of focusing on the names of the letters and other pre-reading skills?
A longitudinal study investigated using direct formal instruction of reading in kindergarten instead of using the widely-accepted traditional approach that teaches “pre-reading†skills in kindergarten. A large national scale study was conducted across 10 states and 24 school districts with 3959 participants. The study compared high school seniors who were taught to read in kindergarten with direct formal instruction with the high school seniors who were taught with other types of “pre-reading†instruction in kindergarten, such as learning the names of the letters of the alphabet.
Hanson and Farrell (1995) state: “The results of the study refute the prevailing conventional wisdom about schools, programs, and particularly, current policy regarding teaching reading in kindergarten. In addition to showing a positive effect on such school-related factors such as grades, attendance, and the need for remedial instruction, this study demonstrated a remarkably clear and consistent pattern of increased reading competency for high school seniors as a result of receiving formal reading instruction in kindergarten.â€
The researchers stated that their findings were completely unexpected. Not only did at-risk students benefit from formal instruction, but so did the advantaged groups. The researchers state that, “Perhaps even more remarkable is the fact that, collectively, the high school seniors who participated in the kindergarten reading program had a lower social class rating than those who did not. Thus, in spite of an overall lower social class level, the students who received the kindergarten reading program still outperformed the higher social class students who did not. It is only in rare circumstances where a group with lower social class rating outperforms one with a higher social class rating on a norm-referenced test of reading achievement. Further, the fact that these differences can be linked to an educational intervention makes them even more extraordinary.†The reading program consisted of between 20 and 30 minutes of group instruction per day for about 25 weeks. The researchers mention that it did not take away from play activities. In conclusion, the researchers state that “students who learned to read in kindergarten were found to be superior in reading skills and all other educational indicators measured as seniors in high school. Further, this finding held up across districts and schools, as well as ethnic, gender, and social class groups. Also, there were absolutely no negative effects from learning to read in kindergarten. … Thus, any district with a policy that does not support kindergarten reading should be ready to present new and compelling reasons to explain why not beyond the old and now refuted myth that it has long-term, adverse effects on students’ reading skills, attitudes, and behaviors.†(Hanson & Farrell, 1995).
Longitudinal Case Studies
In addition to the above studies on early reading, there are longitudinal case studies that show remarkable results for babies who learn to read. I completed two case studies on my own babies learning to read (Titzer, 1998; Titzer, 1999). Entire books have been written on the topic. For example, Cohen and Soderbergh have a book in French on the long-term benefits of learning to read in infancy. The book also includes a case study of my older daughter, Aleka.
Summary of the Longitudinal Studies on Early Reading:
The studies have consistent findings – children who are taught to read prior to entering kindergarten are likely to do well in school and they may have additional cognitive benefits from learning to read early in life. Additionally, the benefits of learning to read early in life are long-term. The longest studies went for 35 years and the benefits of learning to read early in life still had a lasting impact over the person’s life independent of any confounding influences.
Relevant: http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED019107
Children who read early: Two longitudinal studies
The extension of the concept of readiness into education earlier in this century resulted in studies which concluded that children are not ready to read until a mental age of 6.5. But actual research on preschool reading was, as of 1957, extremely limited. Two longitudinal studies were undertaken to remedy this lack. Both studies sought to determine the percentage of preschool readers entering the first grade, the effect of this ability on later reading achievement, and factors which promoted this ability. The first study, begun in September 1958, was based on a sample drawn from 5,103 first graders in Oakland, California. In this group were found 49 prereaders, or less than 1 percent. These 49 were given IQ tests and were tested for reading achievement each year until 1964. The families were interviewed to determine their socioeconomic background, the personality characteristics of the early readers, and the way in which the early reading ability developed. The second study, started in September 1961, tested 4,465 New York City first graders and found 156 early readers, or about 3-1/2 percent. A special group of 30 nonearly readers was matched on sex and IQ with a group of 30 prereaders. Much the same kinds of data were gathered in this study as in the first. Some general conclusions drawn from these studies were (1) that pessimistic opinions about the effects of early reading were not corroborated, and (2) that the early and nonearly reading children were not markedly dissimilar. However, early readers tended to come from families that were more willing to help children learn to read. The findings of these studies also suggest that kindergarten programs should assist and encourage those children who wish to learn to read. Case studies of some prereaders in both studies and some nonearly readers of the New York study are included. This document is available for $4.25 from Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York 10027.