Child Literacy Begins Long Before the Classroom
Emily Barnes | October 9, 2026
Reading skills are drivers toward success in a person’s life since strong literacy offers greater educational opportunities, better health outcomes, and possibly higher socioeconomic status as an adult. Despite being a crucial activity for brain development and parent-child bonding, the data say many families are reading to their children at home with less frequency.
What Do Families Need to Know About Literacy?
Literacy begins far earlier than children learnings their ABCs, sounding out words, and first learning to read. Early literacy starts with the child-and-parent interactions that begin even in infancy. This is seen in parents talking to their children, making different speech sounds, or singing songs with their child. This is how families prepare their child’s brain for learning.
Our brains are wired for learning, and after birth, children make more than 1 million neural connections per second. We’re all born with 100 billion neurons, and the connections we use the most strengthen while the neurons we use less are “pruned.” This pruning can lead to a brain that is prepared for learning.
Reading to children as young as newborns, and even before birth, is one of the best ways parents can support their children’s ability to read once they reach kindergarten. This is because reading to young children builds their vocabulary, language, and imagination, while responsive interactions from adults help develop a child’s attention, emotional regulation, and ability to trust.
Sadly, though, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) released a study showing that shared reading dropped during COVID and has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, 85% of preschool children across the United States were read to frequently – at least three times per week. But between the start of the pandemic and September 2025, that rate dropped and has not rebounded.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Center also found that many Kansas parents aren't consistently reading to their children everyday, reporting that in 2022-2023, 38% of Kansas children younger than 6 years old are read to by family members fewer than four days per week.
What Happens in the Brain during Reading?
Research has found that when using books with increased adult-child interaction, pathways in the brain are activated that simultaneously process auditory information like sounds and language, manage emotions, and help with executive functions like focus and organizing one’s thoughts. Reading text and being read to by another person creates a connected network across the entire brain, increasing a person’s ability to understand and comprehend the world around them. Then, a person makes sense of that information and uses it to interact with others. In children, we see this as increased imagination, singing, dancing, and talking while they play with toys.
This is why taking advantage of the first five years of a child’s life when their brains are the most ready to receive new information about the world around them is crucial. Before kindergarten, children’s brains are especially ready to absorb information about text, numbers, speech, and emotions. But both the quantity and quality of material matters.
For instance, digital media isn’t as beneficial as a parent or caregiver reading from a physical book. When interacting with digital reading media, a person’s brain is less likely to focus on language and visual imagery because it often includes animations that activate the brain less effectively. A person is more likely to focus on the visual stimuli and less likely to internally visualize the story and characters during screen time.
What Can Parents Do?
Having even only 10 books in the home increases the likelihood of shared reading by 8%, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research. Some parents might find it difficult to read to young children, especially when their toddler squirms or cries. Some children may resist sitting in a parent’s lap or try to chew the book rather than listen to the story. A parent who also struggles to read may worry that they can’t read well enough to their child or that they are doing it the wrong way.
There is no specific “right way” to read, and parents don’t need to be reading experts to enjoy this precious time. One way to make reading easier to young children is to ensure a child has developmentally appropriate books. For instance, a board book for an infant or toddler will help them learn about holding books and turning pages without easily damaging the book. And a book with pages full of text may overwhelm a preschooler even if the pictures are engaging.
Caregivers can also offer books focused on the child’s interest and engage with the child while reading. In addition to asking the child about the book, parents should feel encouraged to follow a child’s cues when interacting around a story. For instance, if a child pauses the story to talk about something they see on the page or to ask a question, this is a perfect time for parents to engage with their child as they learn.
It’s important to use simple reading materials with young children – board books with simple illustrations work well – and keep initial reading sessions short and fun. And even children who seem to be ignoring story time might be actively listening while they play. Parents may see their child do something later in the day in connection with the story they read while the child played with toys.
Simple ways to boost reading skills include:
- Practice interactions by responding to your infant’s babbling and gestures and talking with them or responding with facial expressions. This helps children learn that their attempt to interact is important and the adults in their world will respond.
- Follow a child’s lead and keep it fun! Pay attention to whether your child wants to sit in your lap or play while you read. Keep reading sessions short initially if a child shows frustration.
- Present books every day. Talk about the pictures and ask questions about the story. Pausing to listen when your child tells you their thoughts is beneficial too.
- Sing songs and practice rhymes throughout the day for fun and silly interactions that boost vocabulary.
- Talk about daily routines and tasks, such as meal prep and eating, bathtime, and chores. This increases a child’s understanding of their world.
What Supports Already Exist for Parents?
The Kansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics implemented the “Turn a Page. Touch A Mind” program in 2003. They have given out more than 2 million books since 2004 and now have more than 900 participating health care professionals. Cooperation with the Dane G. Hansen Foundation has ensured access to books at 27 medical sites in Northwest Kansas since 2017.
Through this program, pediatricians in Kansas give each child a developmentally appropriate book at their well-child visit until they are 6 years old. These providers also encourage parents and caregivers to read aloud to their children and offer literacy-rich waiting rooms.
In 69 of Kansas’ 105 counties, 25 organizations receive the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) to offer families with young children early childhood education programs, home visiting, and other supports. The range of services offered by the ECBG grantees target early life skills, positive parenting, and quality care and education for the 7,242 children served during the 2025-2026 school year. Each year, the programs’ Common Measures Initiative evaluations show growth in most of the measured domains and continued a 10-year high level of parent engagement in positive parenting strategies in 2026!
Additionally, Kansas participates in statewide access to the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which offers every Kansas kid one book every month from birth to 5 years old. Starting as an effort to give books to the children in the county Dolly grew up in as a tribute to her father, the Imagination Library has grown and gifted more than 330 million books to children in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and Republic of Ireland since 1995.
In 2025, Kansas had 77,148 children enrolled – 43% of age-eligible children in the state – and distributed more than 900,000 books. All counties in Kansas reported enrollment, and 14 counties have met the program goal of 65% enrollment of children from birth to 5 years old.
What Can Kansas Do to Increase Supports to Families?
Current partnerships with pediatricians across the state are invaluable, but considering that KIDS COUNT reports that only 35% of children between 9 months and 3 years old received a developmental screening, more can be done to reach families outside of a health care setting.
Additionally, the Children’s Initiatives Fund (CIF), which funds crucial early childhood programs, is facing sustainability issues due to dwindling revenues from the Master Tobacco Settlement. The state should work to ensure the CIF can maintain sustainable funding so early childhood programs can continue to serve thousands of Kansas kids.
One program funded by the CIF is the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Since Dolly Parton’s passing in August 2026, Kansas’ Imagination Library has seen an increase of 3,000 net new enrollments after accounting for children who aged out of the program. Considering that the average monthly enrollment is around 150 new children statewide, this renewed interest could help communities around Kansas think about how they utilize the library more fully.
More could be done to enhance programs like the Imagination Library. For instance, an area in Scotland partners with the Imagination Library to provide children with preschool, community engagement activities, intergenerational and family engagement opportunities to read together, and at-home learning kits to promote reading.
If we want to prepare Kansas kids for learning in K-12, the best time to start is before kids step foot in the classroom. The best way to do that is through parents and caregivers reading to children consistently. And as Kansas leaders find ways to improve reading levels, it’s vitally important that Kansas uses the current supports and develop creative ideas to overcome the barriers families face as they work to instill a love of reading in their children.
Useful Links for Families
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library – Enroll Your Child Here
Zero to Three – What Is Early Literacy?
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