After looking at eight different studies of childhood development, researchers recently concluded that “reading to a child in an interactive style raises his or her IQ by over 6 points.”
The findings were revealed in Perspectives on Psychological Science this month, in an article entitled “How to Make a Young Child Smarter: Evidence From the Database of Raising Intelligence.”
A team of researchers examined studies about childhood intelligence, pulling out recommendations for “interactive” reading with kids.
The journal article described the best reading practices: “experimenters provided parents both with books and with a training program for effective reading with their children— teaching them how to ask open-ended questions, encourage their children to read, shadow their children’s interests, and so on … In each of these interventions, children and their parents engage with storybook reading in an interactive way. The child is an active participant in the reading, with the adult encouraging the child to be as elaborate as possible.”
If you want to find more books to read with the kids in your life, check out our free samples of the American Library Association’s annual ALA Youth Media Award winners. (Link via NPR)