From Learning to Crawl to Learning to Read: The Developmental Milestones of Early Childhood

Once upon a time, you were an infant learning to sit up, learning to pull yourself up, learning to walk, and learning to run. All through these milestones, you had someone to help you develop and strengthen each of these skills. For example, the process of learning to crawl is pretty complex and differs among babies as they work out a way to move that is unique to them. Tummy time, encouragement to explore, a safe and supervised space, and stability for that first push-off. All of which, of course, takes practice, practice, practice!

Fast-forward to learning to read. It begins with an infant babbling "mama," "dada," and "baba," understanding spoken words by ear. The next stage of development then moves into assigned sounds to the written word, which is understood by the eyes but only through the conscious understanding of the phonological units that comprise spoken words leads a learner to be able to manipulate phonemes to master the relationship between letter units and phonemes and to isolate, compare, and contrast phonemes and letter sequences to decode sounds in written language. Just telling a learner this information is not enough; the learner must actively acquire what must be mastered for themselves. This requires practice, practice, and practice! Training studies show that learners who receive phonemic awareness training do better in reading development than those who do not.

Call to Action! 

The prognosis for a learner with difficulty acquiring phonemic awareness is not good. The learner cannot take advantage of the alphabetic principle, and exposure to print is no longer efficacious for learning to read. If learners are not progressing in reading by the third grade, they can improve their reading skills and reach the same level as their same-age peers with high-impact reading tutoring to change the narrative. It's never too late.

My Role!

Thus, as an educator and reading tutor, I can ensure that learners progress, including mastering phonemic awareness early in their school careers. I also help them read a written text and think about their reading. This can be achieved by learners practicing the techniques that best help them master the skills necessary for learning how to read.