We've been reading to Lily from very early on. Carol Flexer an author on working with kids with hearing impairments and an AVT recommends 10 books a day. We were up to that level, until Lily was around 10 months old and she learned that running around was much more fun than sitting on laps and reading. Even Grandpa couldn't get her to sit still.
That all changed last week. Suddenly Lily was picking up the books on her own. We have books in every room, and keep a rotating supply of library books on hand. I will now find Lily flipping through a book and when I sit with her to read, she will actually stay still for a little while. We're back to at least five books a day.
We've heard a number of great sessions on reading to kids in the past year. Some of the things we learned include:
- Start by getting kids comfortable with books, flipping pages right to left, looking at the pictures, and referencing the text.
- Then "read the book" by using words she may receptively know like bear, baby, sit down, touch, hands, toes, etc.
- And then of course expand the vocabulary to other common words.
- We now ask questions like, "Where is the doggie?" Today she actually pointed to the dog and then got a big smile on her face. So cool.
The other reading highlight today was when she was looking at this cute little book called I Love You Through and Through (see book link on the left). One of the pages has a happy little boy with his hands waving in the air. He has just thrown his teddy bear and it is upside down on the page. I watched as Lily studied this little boy, then turned the book over to see the bear right side up, then flipped the book back over to keep reading. Amazing.