The first few years of a child’s life are critical to providing a foundation for lifelong literacy. Education begins long before a stepping foot in a classroom. The brain develops more in the first 3-5 years than any other time, with more than 1 million neuron connections being made per second. Ever evolving research supports the importance early childhood has on brain development. Access to literacy in early childhood is critical to developing successful reading habits.
BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and low income communities have historically been overlooked and underserved. According to Forbes, “the ratio of age-appropriate books per child in low-income neighborhoods is 1 book per 300 children compared to middle-income neighborhoods where the ratio is 13 books per child.” Because learning starts long before a child sets foot in a classroom, the responsibility to support early child development falls on parents and caregivers, but this puts low-income families at a disadvantage. Because children in low-income families often lack access to single-along toys, books, and interactive games, they miss out on the benefits of early literacy learning, increasing the school readiness gap, which hasn’t closed in over a generation. In addition to building foundational phonics and reading skills, early access to literacy also fosters cognitive, social-emotional, and language development.
The brain is the most “plastic” in early years. For example, the first year a baby’s brain becomes specialized to the language they are exposed to, but after the first year a baby’s brain will start to lose the ability to recognize different sounds found in other languages. While the “window” for language learning never truly shuts, the brains ability to change neural pathways becomes increasingly difficult with maturation. In addition, when young children are exposed to chronic, stressful circumstances like poverty, abuse, and mental illness without the support of a trusted adult, the stress becomes built into the brain and body’s every day responses, which negatively impact acquiring developmental skills associated with learning and literacy.
There are several challenges low-income communities face when they lack access to quality resources including limited access to early childhood intervention programs, economic challenges that limit access to books and materials in the home, and minimal early language exposure. There are a variety of recent intervention efforts that have taken action to decrease the disparity between affluent and low income communities.
1. Community Resources: Local organizations such as the library provide free workshops and activities for early education
2. Family Support: Programs like WIC Family Connections and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library provide families with the tools to support early development
3. Professional Development for Educators: Addressing areas of disparities and equipping educators with skills needed to cultivate an inclusive environment
4. Head Start/Early Head Start: Access to quality pre-school programs can help bridge the gap of school readiness
5. Culturally-Responsive Teaching: Choosing literacy to reflect the background of the students in the classroom
Early literacy plays a critical role in childhood development, and the basic principles of neuroscience indicate how early childhood interventions are more effective to support life long literacy.
