Reading and talking to children early makes starting school easier

Research finds reading and talking to children early makes starting school easier. Research completed in collaboration with the University of Sheffield has found that children's early communication environment makes an important contribution to their readiness to start school. This project was led by Professor Sue Roulstone, Underwood Trust Professor of Language and Communication Impairment at the University of the West of England in collaboration with Professor Tim Peters from the University of Bristol, Professor James Law, from Newcastle University, Judy Clegg from the University of Sheffield and Robert Rush from the University of Edinburgh. The researchers used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, led by the University of Bristol, which showed children with a positive communication environment had a better expressive vocabulary by their second birthday. These children went on to achieve higher scores on tests of language, reading and mathematics when they entered school. In the early years, the communication environment was a better predictor of children's success with language than their more general social background. This project is the first large scale longitudinal study to examine the impact of the child's very early environment – before their second birthday - on their language and school.