Mother-child Story Book Interactions

Joan Kaderavek and Lori Pakulski, literacy researchers from University of Toledo, explored literacy interest or orientation of pre-school children with hearing impairment during mother-child story book interactions. These story books included both narrative and manipulative book genres. Analyzing results from the Modification of the Book's Text Rating, Kaderavek and Pakulski found three important aspects of reading and language learning:

1. children should have more than one opportunity to explore and interact with a book before orientation is assessed
2. children demonstrated a higher mean level of orientation to manipulative books versus narrative books across the three interactions, and
3. modification was negatively correlated with children's age (i.e. the text was more likely to be read verbatim with younger children).

Kaderavek and Pakulski stress that story book reading is a critical language learning opportunity. "Story book reading contributes to oral language development and provides a fundamental learning opportunity associated with later reading ability" (pg. 49). Shared parent-child story book interactions are considered to be important contributors to a child's early literacy growth.

The importance of early literacy experiences for children with significant levels of hearing impairment (HI) has been well documented. Children with HI are likely to have language delay and are at risk for reading difficulties. These factors underscore the need for children with HI to experience consistent positive, mutually engaging, and extended story book interactions throughout their pre-school years (pg. 50).

During parent-child story book interactions, children who are hearing impaired have a particular set of challenges that come into play. "Children who are hearing impaired are likely to have a more limited set of world experiences as compared to their hearing age mates (pg. 51). Children who have HI but have hearing parents do not have access to immediate language immersion in contrast to children born to parents who are HI and use sign language. Kaderavek and Pakulski note that this general lack of world experience can limit the underlying language foundation supporting children's comprehension of more sophisticated an decontextualized literate language forms. On the other hand, families who converse in sign language early and fluently may not use story book reading to expose children to the textual features associated with written English. Thus, children with HI are likely to be read to less frequently than their peers.

Two book genres are examined within this study. Narrative story books, where there is a plot or storyline that is communicated by the text and illustrations, and manipulative books that, along with text, contain physical components to engage children (i.e. flaps that can be opened, dials that can be turned). Kaderavek and Pakulski explain that narrative books expose children to story structure or plot, which is a critical early literacy skill that often poses challenges for children who are HI. They also explain that manipulative books, with their increased opportunities for nonverbal participation, may be facilitative for children who are reluctant to participate in book interactions (pg. 52).

Repeated exposure to a book has shown that children developing typically become increasingly familiar and comfortable with the book's concepts, vocabulary, and advanced sentence structure. This results in children reducing labeling behavior and increasing comments on story content. Children also ask fewer questions about the pictures and more questions about the meaning of words and the story.

Through this entire study, Kaderavek and Pakulski found that children showed higher levels of orientation in response to the monipulative versus the narrative book. In general, parents need to maintain and focus on the 'fun and playful' aspects of story book interactions rather than being overly concerned about 'reading the book' at the early stages of literacy exposure. This is particularly relevant for children with HI. Since children with HI are likely to fall behind their typical peers in reading development, it is crucial to maintain high interest and engagement in early exposures to written text in early parent-child book reading interactions.

One aspect of this study that intrigued me was the idea of the 'broccoli effect'. "Just as 'forcing' a child to eat a disliked vegetable increases a child's dislike and avoidance, 'forcing' a child to participate in a story book interaction when the activity is perceived as unpleasant is likely to increase a child's resistance and may inadvertently result in avoidance of future interactions" (pg. 65). The broccoli effect, when applied to literacy, counters the general assumption that reading to chidren 'can never hurt'. Kaderavek and Pakulski argue that the introduction of parent-child literacy experiences in a highly engaging context is one way to minimize the 'broccoli effect'.

The findings of this study have important educational and clinical implications. In order to fully understand the trajectory of children's literacy development, it is necessary to examine children's social-contextual home literacy interactions. While parents and teachers want to expose children to many book genres, manipulative books may be a logical first step or appropriate book type for the reluctant reader.




Kaderavek, J. N., and L. A. Pakulski. "Mother--child Story Book Interactions: Literacy Orientation of Pre-schoolers with Hearing Impairment." Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 7.1 (2007): 49-72. Print.