Story Talk for parents and carers
Grow language and a love of reading with your child through Story Talk!
Research tells us that there is a strong link between a child’s language development and their success in learning to read, and this effect continues through to adolescence.
Reading wordless books might seem like a strange way to grow language! But our Story Talk books have been created so that you and your child can have lots to look at and talk about together. There is very strong evidence that shows that when adults and children share books and talk, the language they use is more complex, interesting to the child and more likely to become part of the child’s own talk.
Story Talk is built on three simple principles that make a big difference to your child’s language development and their attitudes to books:
- Positivity
- The child is in charge
- Joint attention
If you do just one thing, make time to share a book with your child!
Because…
It aids regulation
– When parents and young child share a book their heart beats sync.
– Picture books help children to experience big feelings safely. We teach emotional regulation to children by helping them to identify their feelings.
– Thinking and talking together develops social interactions … and supports your child’s ability to concentrate.
It develops shared attention
– This means you are tuned in to your child and what they are interested in.
– This sparks talk about the things that matter to your child.
– This develops higher-level thinking.
– This creates positive feedback to your child.
