How music helps with children’s literacy skills
The Importance of Literacy for Children
Literacy is one of the most important skills we develop in our early childhood years. It’s not just about being able to read in school, either. Learning how to read gives children the skills they need to learn and comprehend complex ideas that help shape them into individuals. Being able to read and write gives them a means of self-expression, which is essential for self-esteem. It also expands their world as they learn about different people, places, and perspectives without ever having to leave where they are.
Developing literacy isn’t a one-way avenue—it takes a multi-faceted approach. Parents need to read to children and use unfamiliar words with them in order to help develop their vocabulary. Teachers need to provide a wide array of lessons, including phonics, handwriting, vocabulary, grammar, and creative reading/writing. Telling stories, listening to the radio, and learning how to navigate the library and conduct research also develop higher-level skills as children age.
Literacy and Music
One literacy tool parents may not consider is the power of music. Music can be used in many ways to develop a child’s reading abilities. It starts with the alphabet. How do you remember learning your letters? Was it through a song? That’s not a coincidence. Our brains have an uncanny ability to remember rhythm, melodies, and rhymes. Teaching children the alphabet through the phenomenon of song helps them learn these building blocks of language much quicker and with less difficulty.
Music can help children improve their literacy skills way beyond the alphabet song. According to a 2014 study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, children who took music lessons for two years became better at processing language, in addition to improving their musical skills. Researchers think that the shared elements between language and music—pitch, timing, and timbre—activate the same parts of the brain, so when you exercise one, it helps improve the other. Furthermore, playing music with others improves higher-level skills including collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. Therefore, adding music lessons to your child’s curriculum can improve literacy as well as other academic skills crucial for 21st century success.
Adding Music to Your Child’s Life
If your child’s school offers choir or music groups at lunchtime or after school, encouraging them to sign up is one of the easiest ways to get them involved in music. However, it’s important to find other ways to engage your child in musical activity so they enjoy it, rather than solely view it as an academic obligation. Provide your child with their own area in the home where they can practice their instrument and escape when they’re feeling overwhelmed by other responsibilities.
Other ways to add music to your child’s education include:
- Sing together!
- Incorporate music into day-to-day chores and activities.
- Play classical music when it’s time to read or study.
- Attend concerts and musicals as a family.
- Put on some high-tempo music when playing sports or exercising.
- Keep instruments around the house.
- Sign them up for private music lessons.
Literacy isn’t just about earning A’s in English class. Learning how to read, write, and interpret language gives children the skills to explore and grow in this world. Adding music into your child’s education works similar parts of the brain that are used when reading or writing. By including music in your child’s learning, you improve their abilities to accept, process, and retain information through the power of language.
(Thanks to Charles Carpenter for this piece)
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Safer Internet Day takes place next Tuesday, 7th February 2023. Sadly more than 1 in 4 young people in Ireland have experienced cyberbullying, yet only 60% of victims tell their parents. As teenagers and children spend more time on the internet, ensuring it's a safe space is ever more important. To encourage conversation about life online and help parents keep their children safe, I'd like to share a free resource created by Switcher.ie. It's a comprehensive guide which includes things like:
I thought it may be useful to share the link to the guide - https://switcher.ie/broadband/guides/how-to-keep-your-children-safe-online/ - which you can include on your website ahead of Safer Internet Day, to help parents and children who may need some extra support. We've also put together some handy top tips you can use on your website: 10 tips to keep your children safe online
- How to reduce the risks online
- How to recognise cyber bullying and grooming
- How to educate children on cyber safety
- How to set up parental controls on devices
- Talk about it:Make time to chat about online risks and how to use the internet safelyas soon as they're old enough to go online. Encourage your children to speak to you about what they view online and empower them to act if they're worried about anything.
- Recognise the risks: Educate yourself about the potential dangers children could face online so it’s easier to spot warning signs. Get to know what platforms your children use, and learn about dangers such as phishing, grooming and cyberbullying.
- Teach the do's and don'ts: Be clear about the non-negotiables. For example, teach your child not to share personal details or photos with strangers and instruct them not to click on links to unknown websites or texts. Do encourage your child to question what they see and only accept friend requests from people they know.
- Spot the signs: Pay attention to your children's behaviour whilst on and off their devices. Being alert to changes in your child can help prevent problems from escalating. Some warning signs are withdrawing from friends or family, sleeping and eating problems or losing interest in previously loved hobbies or interests.
- Set boundaries:Let your children know what they can and can't do on the internet from the get-go. Agree on what devices they can use, when, and how long they can spend online. As they get older, explaining and negotiating boundaries may be more effective.
- Take 'parental' control: These ready-made boundaries put parents in control of what children can see online. They can be set up through your internet provider at device level to block specific websites and filter out inappropriate content.
- Be social media savvy: The popularity of social media apps like TikTok and Snapchat makes it harder to keep track of what your child is accessing online. Fortunately, each social media platform has its own privacy settings and safety tips for parents. Check them out before you let children have their own accounts.
- Protect from harm:Install antivirus software on family devices to minimise the risk of cyber attacks or scams. Use two-factor authentication (2FA) for extra security on your online accounts. This can also stop children from signing into services they're not allowed to use.
- Set a great example: You're the greatest 'influencer' in your children's lives when they're young. Limiting your time online, discussing dangers you've come across, and questioning what you view can help reinforce the rules you are setting for your children and, in turn, influence their online behaviour.
- Seek support:The more you learn about online dangers, the better equipped you'll be to handle them. There are some great resources like webwise.ie, internetmatters.organd cybersafekids.ie to help you recognise and reduce online dangers and seek advice if you think your child is experiencing cyberbullying or is at risk online.
Infant Mental Health Awareness Week runs from June 13th-19th.
This week provides an opportunity to focus attention on the wellbeing, social and emotional development of our babies and young children. It highlights the importance of early relationships and a relationship based approach to interventions with infants and families. As our understanding of IMH and its evidence base develops, so also does our knowledge of how to apply this knowledge and an ‘IMH lens’ to interactions with infants, parents and caregivers in health and social services.
What is infant mental health?
Infant Mental health (IMH) refers to the healthy social and emotional development of Infants starting at conception up to three years of age.
The first 1000 days of life are recognised as a critical period of opportunity to support infant mental health. Decades of research have shown that it is the quality of the early caregiver relationship that is a significant determinant of the infant’s healthy social and emotional development and in turn physical health, right up to adulthood.
The National Healthy Childhood Programme has embedded IMH as the foundation of the development of its resources and in the approach of the delivery of the universal child health service. This embedding of key messages can be seen in the My Child suite of books (www.mychild.ie/books) and also on www.MyChild.ie where key messages around bonding and relationship building have been embedded for the parent/caregiver.
In clinical practice the topic of IMH has been included for the first time in the National Standardised Child Health Record. To build on this, the National Healthy Childhood Programme have just completed a suite of three eLearning units which are now available on HSEland for healthcare practitioners / caregivers who are working with children and families.
Throughout the week you will see videos and key IMH messaging being promoted on the HSE MyChild social media pages ( Facebook / Instagram ). Keep an eye out in the National Newspapers for articles from our experts also. (IrishTimes article)
In addition The National Healthy Childhood Programme have developed a series of ten practical videos with HSE expert advice which are now available on YouTube and on the relevant pages on the www.mychild.ie website.
These videos (2-3 minutes each) are aimed at parents/guardians of children (0 – 3 years).
These new video resources are available here while lots more expert advice for every step of pregnancy, baby and toddler health can also be found at www.mychild.ie
There are a suite of posters available focusing on the promotion of IMH messaging to order from healthy.childhood@hse.ie
