Thursday's Child - the science and culture of reading

Why Reading to Your Child is Scientific, not Cultural

               A situation that concerns me is the thinking that, ‘reading to your children’ is a cultural thing. This is not right. A speech-therapy teacher with a master’s degree told me about an incident she had in Texas. Hedwig was scolded by her superior for bringing books to homes and asking parents to read to their children. The supervisor explained that this linguistics expert could not force her cultural views on another, minority culture. What a misguided theory! What a disservice to the minority children of Texas!

               Part of her job is to visit children in their homes, including those who have English as a second language (ESL). What she does is similar to Parents as Teachers (PAT) workers, with emphasis on helping children with speech problems.

               She began leaving children’s books with families, knowing they would help with literacy and speech. Then her department manager called her on the carpet, saying that she had no right to push her “white culture (of parents reading to their children)” on other ethnic groups, and that she was no longer allowed to leave books with the children on her route.

               Are you kidding me?! Reading to children is “white” culture? I know plenty of people of other ethnicities that read to their children. More importantly, reading to children is scientifically proven to be the first step to literacy. Parents reading to children should not be considered a cultural aspect, but a medical one. It is a verified scientific remedy for helping children to overcome speech and language difficulties.

               “A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.”                         George R.R. Martin

               Bedtime stories make patterns in children's minds that help them learn to read much easier. If a doctor said that eating more chili peppers would lower blood pressure, would the reply be that he shouldn't push his culture on others? Of course not. The non-chili eaters would learn to eat chilis. All parents in every culture should be encouraged to read to their children regularly.

               If the parents can't read, they should find someone nearby who can. Who wouldn't want what's best for her child? Reading with phonics is the only proven medical cure (and prevention) for dyslexia, as cited in previous volumes of my series, It's Not Rocket Surgery!

               The manager of the speech clinic would have done much better to explain – to complaining parents – all the benefits of reading to their children, or at least of looking through the books with them. If the parents couldn’t read English, they could find a friend or neighbor who could. Or find books in their primary language. Something, anything.

               Parents could just let their children browse through the books to be familiar with printed language and book orientation. Why would parents want to hold their children back, rather than give them a good educational start? False pride? I was surprised and shocked at the manager’s rejection of the proven best-practices for success – for any culture. The Baltimore Project and the Bureau of Indian Affair's highest-performing schools, with phonics, have confirmed this. See Vol. 5 of my series, It's Not Rocket Surgery!

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