Early Literacy and the Impact onFamilies

Early Literacy and the Impact on Families

Virgen Velez

I met with the psychologist and the teacher in the toddler classroom. During my interview with the psychologist we talked about the need to address violence and the impact on brain development from infancy through the primary years and thereafter and how there should be more in-depth research. While this topic was of great interest it was the teacher who led me to choose my topic for the research paper. She addresses the need for Early Literacy and the issue that as professional they face with parents. One issue that I would have not thought about was the issue with immigration, how some parents are afraid to get a library card. They are afraid to fill any type of forms because in their mind this might lead to deportation. This teacher goes beyond the call she tries to get parent to participate and makes books available for the families to take home, even creating books and teaching parent how to create book with material they might have around the house. Another issue she had is the parents that refuse to have the child speak their native language; these parents want their children to speak English only. So my question is what do you think of parents that only want their child to speak only English with no regard for their native language? Second can a child learn two languages at the same time? Another issue is the parent that is illiterate. How can you teach parents to read to their children without making them uncomfortable?  In my research paper I will address the issues of language when is the right time for a child to learn a second language, literacy and immigration how this issue affect the families and children in our programs.