Caroline is available for talks about the importance of reading to babies. She also contributes to on-line magazines on the subject of language and literacy development.
Contact Caroline
Fun Video Clips to Watch with Your Family
Expectant Mom and Daughter Reading Together
This is a video of an expectant mom reading to her daughter and baby before birth. The auditory system is
fairly developed by month six of pregnancy. Studies show that after birth babies recognize specific books, rhymes,
or music heard in the womb before birth.
Notice How:
Mother adds her own words to text to further explain or respond to baby
Mother talks about the illustrations, pointing to them
Mother asks questions and waits for the child to respond
Mother acknowledges and echoes what child is seeing even though child not quite speaking yet
Child understands the words (receptive language) and attempts to say them in her own way
Fourteen Month-Old Toddler "reading" the Caldecott Honor book, Freight Train, by Donald Crews
This fourteen month-old toddler demonstrates typical behaviors of a child who has been read to every day since birth. He knows what reading-aloud looks and sounds like. He takes his turn as the one doing the "reading." This is a major step in literacy development. He knows that book language sounds different from every day talk. This child has already absorbed read-aloud's basic behaviors, including turning pages from left to right and using a variety of voice inflections, sounds, and rhythms. He is well on his way to becoming a reader when he enters school in a few years.
Notice How:
The focus of attention, never distracted from the book
How he points to an illustration as he "reads," just the way his parents do when reading to him
The variety of sounds articulated. At around ten months babies are able to articulate the many sounds heard in the stream of speech (known as phonemic awareness)
How he turns the pages from left to right, and once turns back to check on a page (even some kindergartners, who have not been read to, don't know which way to turn the pages)
How at the end of the book, the page with the smoke billowing from the engine (kids love train engine smoke) he makes enthusiastic "sh" and "ch" sounds that could echo choo choo that his parents probably have chanted in repeated readings of this book
This beautiful fourteen-month-old's "reading-like" behaviors are a joy to observe. Our hope is that all babies and toddlers will be fortunate enough to have parents and caretakers who read to them every day starting at birth.
KUSI News Interview
Authors Caroline Blakemore and Barbara Weston Ramirez are interviewed on the KUSI News Morning Show.
Channel 10 Morning News — Website Review
Two local teachers (Caroline Blakemore and Barbara Weston Ramirez) wrote a book and created this Web site to show parents that they hold the key to their child's future academic success.
Caroline is available for talks about the importance of reading to babies. She also contributes to on-line magazines on the subject of language and literacy development.
