Turn it up!

By Katharine Grubb

“If God really loved us,” I pondered to my friend, Michelle, when an unusually long church service was over, “wouldn’t He have designed us an extra arm and hand with the birth of each baby?”

I asked this because my six-month-old was teething, my three-year-old was upset that her jacket was not pink and my four-year-old was having another allergic reaction, all simultaneously. So, this question, while not theologically solid, seemed quite reasonable.

“Oh, but if we did,” Michelle answered, equally stressed - she was a few years and a few pregnancies ahead of me - “In addition to having very strange clothes, God might bless us with 36 children.”

So I was stuck, with a little more than I could manage. And I only had two hands. Now, I was experienced enough to know that the infant could be put down in the car seat. He was the easiest of the three, at least for a few months.

But the girls…what about the toddlers? At ages 3 and 4, they were constantly running around, fussing, scribbling and processing the world around them faster than I could manage. And the problem was not just a Sunday-at-church problem, it was a home problem too. I could park them in front of the television, but I’d rather occupy them with something that was a little more stimulating, something a little more educationally nutritious.

The solution was not another appendage, but appliances!

My CD player and iPod!

With audio, I can keep them busy and “feed” those growing brains! Over the years, my kids (now five there are of them) are in the habit of listening almost as much as watching. The habit that we started in preschool is now strengthening them academically.

AUDIO FOR PRESCHOOLERS
The first and simplest audio resources are the book and tape/CD combination. A book like The Runaway Bunny can include a CD with a professional actor (or the author) telling the story. Often these books have music in the background or audible signals like a beep that tell a listener when to turn the page.

By listening to the CD and looking at the book simultaneously, the preschooler is:
• Understanding the left-to-right progression of a book
• Strengthening attention skills
• Understanding a correspondence between oral and written words
• Developing a positive emotional connection with books and reading
• Strengthening skills in following directions, like “turn the page at the beep”
• Being introduced to elements such as characters, plot and setting

Subtly, these skills will develop a necessary educational foundation before actual reading ever occurs. Don’t forget, your public library is a great resource for acquiring book/tape or book/cd combos. Online catalogs can make this very convenient. See you local branch for more information on how to do this.

WHEN TO START?
My preschoolers were ready for this at about age 3, but everyone is different. A preschooler is ready for an audio book when he can:
• Sit through a reading of a picture book with a parent
• Mentally follow a short story
• Simply describe what is happening in an illustration
• Can be trusted not to rip, damage or eat a book

Starting with their favorite books and easing into it a few minutes at a time, a toddler (ages 2-4) or a pre-reader (ages 3-7) can develop a taste for reading that can grow into a life long love.

WHEN THEY’RE READY FOR MORE
Even though their independent reading skills are not ready for a chapter book, a preschooler’s mental skills may be strong enough for more complex stories, more colorful characters and more complicated plots.

This is where the chapter book comes in. A chapter book, like Charlotte’s Web, on CD strengthens those reading skills, satiating a hunger for more intellectual challenges.

In an e-mail interview, writer and educator Susan Wise Bauer said,

“My own children listened to unabridged books on tape and CD from the time they were babies, for at least two hours per day. They developed enormous vocabularies, far beyond their age and grade level. They learned to love long, complex books (long books were favorites because they took up so much time!). They listened to books which were far above their technical reading level--and then went to find the print versions of the books. And they all developed a wonderful ear for written language. All four of my children--even the ones who are not naturally language-focused--write well, because there is so much good, fluent, stylish language in their memories.”

So God, as you can see, didn’t give me another hand. With the help of audio, my preschoolers grew stronger, cognitively that is. They learned to sit still (even for a short time). They practiced their listening skills. Their readiness for reading was strengthened. They were introduced to the technical aspects of reading. Their relationship with books was gently nurtured. And they were exposed to great literature. (And I was able to go to the bathroom!)

And that was a huge answer to prayer.