Source: New York Daily News

A bedtime story’s goal isn’t just a good night’s sleep.

New research from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that reading books with a child beginning in infancy can boost vocabulary and reading skills four years later – before they even start elementary school. High-quality reading in infancy lead to early reading skills years later, and high-quantity storytime in toddlerhood showed strong ties to literacy skills, like name writing, as early as age four.

“These findings are exciting because they suggest that reading to young children, beginning even in early infancy, has a lasting effect on language, literacy and early reading skills,” said lead author Carolyn Cates.

The “quantity” of shared reading time was determined by the number of books in the home and days per week spent reading together. The “quality” of this shared time was gauged by whether parents and their children discussed the book afterward, if they took time to analyze any pictures and if the book was age appropriate for the baby.

Volunteers and their babies were monitored periodically from the time the child was six months old until he or she turned four and a half. During those years, the children were tested on how well they understood words and for any other signs of early literacy.

“What they’re learning when you read with them as infants still has an effect years later when they’re about to begin elementary school,” Dr. Cates said.