Child Centered Literacy Orientation: A Form of Social Capital?

Abstract

Although two-parent families and higher adult-to-child ratios in the home appear to be social capital variables with protective effects, low-income, single-parent, and minority or immigrant families are at significant risk for lacking both children's books and a CCLO. We suggest that CCLO may itself be another form of social capital reflecting parental goals and expectations for their children. We speculate that interventions which provide children's books and information about reading with children to impoverished families with young children may facilitate more parent-child book sharing. Pediatricians and other primary care providers serving underserved populations may have a unique opportunity to encourage activities focusing on young children and promoting literacy.

Expressive vocabulary in 18‐month‐old children in relation to demographic factors, mother and child characteristics, communication style and shared reading

“…Contrary to the findings of High and colleagues (1999), Karrass and colleagues (2003), and Roberts and colleagues (2005), we found girls to be significantly more involved in reading than boys (Tables 4 & 6). This does not appear to have been shown in earlier research.…”

“…Provided that girls are linguistically ahead of boys, and parents modify their reading habits to the child's verbal ability, then one could expect mothers to read more with their daughters. However, according to some studies, reading with young children does not differ between the genders (High et al . 1999; Roberts et al .…”

Long-term Outcomes for Children with Early Language Problems: Beating the Odds

“…These are areas that policy can continue to address. Efforts to raise the reading skills of young children should not only be targeted at the child, but at the wider social context, the ‘literacy environment’ in which vocabulary and reading development takes place (High and others, 1999, 2000; Klass, 2002). This must include an understanding of the degree to which access to a literacy‐rich environment is promoted and facilitated.…”

A Pediatric Literacy Education Program for Low Socioeconomic, Culturally Diverse Families

“…The interview on book reading experiences was based on interviews us ed in previous research (High et al ., 1999 ;Needleman et al ., 1991 ), and included the following information: demographic information, favorite activities with the child, activities done the previous da y, bedtime routines, and specific que stions about adult and child bookreading activities . The interview was initially translated into Spanish, and then translated back into English, to test the accuracy of the translation.…”