Additional Resources

To learn more about literacy development, take a look at these resources:

Brain Development & Education Lab
Check out our lab webpage to stay up-to-date with the latest recommendations from our lab!

Colorín Colorado
Colorín Colorado provides resources for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs) in Grades PreK-12.

The Essentials of Early Literacy Instruction
This article from the National Association for the Education of Young Children provides information and activity ideas to help support early literacy development.

News You Can Use | Foundations of School Readiness: Language and Literacy
This resource provides strategies to help support children as they develop language and literacy skills.

Planned Language Approach (PLA): Big 5 for ALL
This resource from the federal government provides resources on how to support children’s language and early literacy development in 5 key areas, background knowledge, oral language and vocabulary; book knowledge and print concepts, alphabet knowledge and early writing, and phonological awareness.

Professional Development Module: Dialogic Reading that Supports Children Who Are Dual Language Learners and Their Families
Learn how to use the dialogic reading strategy to support early literacy skills in children who are dual language learners.

Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets is a national multimedia literacy initiative that provides resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how adults can help.

 

  • Auditory
    related to hearing
    Genes
    the inherited biological ‘recipe’ for appearance and other individual characteristics
    Literacy
    the ability to read and write
    Neurons
    cells located in the brain and throughout the body that are specialized to communicate messages
    Phoneme
    the smallest unit of speech (a sound)
    Phoneme “play”
    manipulating sounds that make up words
    Phonological awareness
    the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken language
    Primary visual cortex
    an area in the brain responsible for interpreting visual information
    Retina
    neural cells at the back of the eye that are sensitive to light
    Skilled reader
    a reader who is able to focus on comprehension, rather than on sounding out words
    Visual word form area
    the area of the brain responsible for recognizing words during reading