Early Learning Coalition and League of Women Voters

Feb. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- Literacy levels for children entering schools is of the utmost concern in Florida and around the country. Researchers, education professionals and child care providers are learning kindergarten is too late to start the process of language and communication development. The Early Learning Coalition of Southwest Florida (ELC) is working to address this situation through a myriad of efforts including a new initiative with the League of Women Voters called “Words, Words, Words”.

Words, Words, Words is an effort the ELC and the League are coordinating to spread the message to all parents, and especially low income parents, about the need to speak and engage their children. The message is simple – speak with your children, from birth, to increase their success in school.  

Learning and communication skills begin developing at birth. Literally, according to a Harvard’s Zero to Three studies at the National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families (zerotothree.org) 80% of a person’s brain is developed by age 3, and 90% by age 5. By speaking with very young children about shared experiences, parents can ignite cognitive reactions, resulting in the ongoing creation of brain synapses, or connections.   This ability to enhance brain wiring begins to taper off around age five.

“The success of a child is directly impacted by their communication skills,” explained Kathleen Reynolds, Ph.D. and CEO of ELC. “It’s critical that parents understand their part in the early learning of their children and that it can be as simple as talking to and with them from the beginning.”

Sharon Weiss-Kapp, MED, CCC-SLP an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at MGH Institute of Health Professions, Speech Pathologist, Reading Specialist and Senior Clinical Associate at the Children’s Hospital in Boston confirmed, “The area we’re most concerned with is birth to three years old where language is developed.” She went on to explain “We’ve found there is a 35 million word discrepancy between how many words a child has heard from a low income family versus a middle class or professional family. There aren’t even 35 million words in the English language so we aren’t asking parents to use extensive vocabulary, but just to talk to their children and interact with them.”

For more information on Words, Words, Words or to support the cause, please visit the ELC Website http://www.elcofswfl.org. If you’d like more information on the research and activities ELC and the League of Women Voters are doing in Southwest Florida, please contact ELC at (239) 267-4105.

The Early Learning Coalition of Southwest Florida exists to enhance the quality of children's lives by providing families, early childhood educators, care-givers and community partners in Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee Counties, with opportunities to positively impact the future. For details on our many services or to donate, please visit http://www.elcofswfl.org or call (239) 267-4105.

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We serve the families of Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee Counties. It is our goal to make certain that children ages birth to five and beyond, have access to high quality early education experiences to cultivate their natural enthusiasm for learning.