Start children reading early and they'll keep turning the page

Bookstart can help to tackle falling literacy levels, says Caroline McLeod.

WITH Scotland currently occupying 26th place on The International Reading League table, and frequent reports in the press about the country's falling literacy levels, it is becoming increasingly clear that the main answer to the problem is pre-school intervention.

Parents know they are their children's most important teachers but many are surprised to learn that babies can benefit from books from birth.

It has been proven by Bookstart, a UK-wide programme administrated by the national independent charity Booktrust, funded by the Scottish Government and supported by more than 25 children's publishers, that babies and toddlers who are exposed to books on a regular basis are further ahead in reading, writing, numeracy and listening skills when they reach school.

This is because the first three years are crucial in providing the foundations for learning throughout our lives.

This is when we learn to talk and it is during this time that our brains develop at a tremendous rate.

This development is fostered through stimulation of a child's senses. Enjoying books with babies and toddlers is a wonderful way to increase language skills and helps children to understand their world. Babies and toddlers have none of the hang-ups about books that older children often possess. For babies, books are windows to the magical world they want to explore, filled with the colours, textures and exotic creatures they are yet to meet.

They will never again have quite the same thirst for knowledge, or ability to absorb it, and this in itself is reason enough to introduce them to the magic that books represent at as early an age as possible.

Much has been made of the fact that children's literacy levels are falling, and while this is a very worrying trend, it is important to look at it in context. The majority are being offered an increasing variety of ways in which to spend their leisure time. That is why a love of reading which is nurtured and developed from birth is so important, so that it is there to go back to in idle times, lonely moments, or during fact-seeking journeys.

The parents and carers who are worried that their own offspring will be among the one-in-five children leaving primary school struggling to read properly can take a simple step to help avoid these later problems – enjoying books and rhymes with your child from as early an age as possible will help create a love of reading which should last a lifetime.

Bookstart In Scotland Day which is running today gives the gift of free books to all children at around eight weeks, 18 months and three years, along with guidance materials for parents and carers.

• Caroline McLeod is Bookstart national development manager for Scotland