18, August 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Donna Andrusyk, ISU Extension Family Life Specialist, 319-882-4275, [e-mail] Reading Readiness Starts Early The road to success in school starts earlier than you might think. "There is evidence that three simple strategies, used regularly, help children prepare for reading when they start school," according to Donna Andrusyk, Iowa State University (ISU) Extension family life specialist. Strategy 1 Help children develop background knowledge through everyday routines and planned experiences. Information is acquired by seeing, feeling and doing things to gain knowledge about the world. It starts with adults naming things and talking about what they are doing. Take breakfast, for example. Say "I'm opening the cereal box. Now I'm pouring the cereal into the round, blue bowl. Look, the cereal is round too, and it has a hole in the middle. Now I'm pouring milk on the cereal. It's cold because it was in the refrigerator. There, I'm all done. Are you ready to eat? Here's your spoon." Strategy 2 Provide many opportunities for your child to develop his or her language skills by talking. Before children learn to talk like adults, they through go many developmental stages, beginning at birth. Children first learn to babble, and then repeat words they hear, then say single words and phrases, and finally talk in sentences. These phases are known as a language framework. The better developed this framework is, the better the chances that the child will be successful in reading and writing. Watch your child at play and have a conversation about the play. Allow time for your child to talk after you make a comment or ask a question. For example, "You found the farm animals. Where do they live?" Wait for a response or answer the question if the child is very young and has a limited vocabulary. "I see blocks. Shall I bring them over? What can w...