A Lot It Turns Out!
May is National Mental Health Awareness month. Since the pandemic, there has been an increased focus on the mental health of young children, and particularly the fact that they are not immune to mental health issues. In fact, the latest brain science research and studies on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) have emphasized the importance of attending to young children’s social-emotional well-being.
We already knew that reading to and with children supports their developing literacy skills, but a growing body of research reveals that “READING to and with children on a regular basis also has a significant positive effect on their mental health” (2022, Henderson).
You may be wondering what it is about shared reading that has been linked to this positive association. It is due to the emotional benefit of the shared reading experience between children and their caregivers. According to a recent study (Shared Reading and risk of Social-Emotional Problems), a possible connection between shared reading and social-emotional health is the “social-emotional reciprocity and emotional coregulation between caregiver and child. Shared reading invokes caregiver-child joint attention of social, cognitive, language, and literacy development of a physiologic level. Brain to-brain neural synchrony has also been described in preschool-aged children as a bio marker of interaction quality and emotional regulation. Shared reading may similarly promote child emotional resilience through improved caregiver-child relationships. Thus, shared reading may be framed as a core component of strengths-based approaches to intervention, enhancing social emotional health through increased caregiver warmth and sensitivity, decreased caregiver stress, and more secure attachment”. Furthermore, children in families that struggle to create a nurturing environment will especially benefit from reading with parents and caregivers (https://studyfinds.org/reading-out-loud-resilience/)
So please, keep on reading to and with children and know that you are supporting their mental health along with their academic development!
Mental wellbeing, reading and writing
Connecting Social Emotional Health and Literacy
Lynne Hall holds a Master of Science in Education and an Indiana instructional teaching license (Early Childhood Education and Services; Elementary/Primary Generalist; Elementary/Intermediate Generalist). She formerly taught preschool in a variety of settings for over 15 years. Her expertise includes early literacy instruction, equity in early childhood education, and inclusive preschool classroom practices.
Email her at hallma@iu.edu
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