Language and literacy development begins at birth.  The interactions that young children have with caring adults as they share songs, stories and rhymes and explore materials such as books, paper, and crayons are the building blocks for language, reading, and writing development.  Check out these fun activities that you can do at home with your child!

• Stages of Oral Language Development through 30 months
• Language, Numbers, and Play
• Read, Speak, Sing: Your Baby and Early Literacy
• Read, Speak, Sing: Fun Ideas for You and Your Baby
• Serve and Return

tykeTALK offers programs for children in the Thames Valley region from birth to school-age with speech and/or language difficulties. Their focus is on early identification of speech and language problems.  Assessment and therapy, if needed, are provided by registered Speech-Language Pathologists. Many programs are based in neighbourhoods across the region.

The Hanen Centre offers tips for parents to help turn any activity into an opportunity to build language and literacy skills – and ways to have fun while doing it!  So if you have a child who communicates without words, who has just started talking, or who is already speaking in sentences – there are tips for you!

The Canadian Child Care Federation provides information on how to create a language and print-rich, play-based program to provide children with opportunities to test and communicate their ideas and feelings and to talk about experiences that are meaningful and relevant to them. It emphasizes the importance of speaking, reading, and writing as an essential part of child development.