Special to the Ukiah Daily Journal
The effect of income disparity on children is an increasing concern as more kids are poor today than even 10 years ago. The Southern Education Foundation recently released a report indicating that currently at least half of public school kids in 17 states are low-income, including California. Mendocino County is no exception. With 52.8 percent of children in Mendocino County eligible for free and reduced lunch (a reliable indicator of socioeconomic status) many children in Mendocino experience the effects of growing up with less.
One of the most striking results of childhood poverty can be seen in language development. The differences begin as early as age two, as young children from lower-income families have smaller vocabularies and go on to score lower on standardized tests. Moreover, in Mendocino County, children have lower scores on standardized tests in 2nd, 4th, and 10th grade English than other California counties according to HealthyMendocino.org. By improving early literacy for low-income children, Mendocino County can give children the foundation they need to become successful adults.
Words matter ? especially to young children. By age 2 children know 100 to 2,000 words, by age 5 they know 5,000 to 20,000 words. This word explosion is key to the early language development that sets children up to succeed throughout their academic and professional careers. The best way for young children to learn vocabulary is to hear new words through everyday speech, singing, and reading beginning in infancy. The brain grows in response to this stimulation?regardless of which language the child hears. By reading to infants, toddlers and preschool-age children 20 minutes a day caregivers improve their child's vocabulary and language development because children learn words in context through reading. This makes efforts to improve early literacy vital to Mendocino County's future by leveling the playing field and providing opportunities for all children to be ready for kindergarten. In Mendocino County, the Imagination Library helps families do just that by providing monthly age-appropriate books for children from birth to age 5.
Having grown up extremely poor herself, Dolly Parton founded the Imagination Library to provide books for children 0-5, and FIRST 5 Mendocino sponsors the program in partnership with the Mendocino County Public Library and The Community Foundation of Mendocino County. All children in Mendocino County from birth to age 5 whose parents register for the program receive one book in the mail each month at no cost to the participating families. Books are chosen with children's developmental stage in mind and with an understanding of how important vocabulary development through reading is for young children. For more information on the Imagination Library, contact Kathleen Cason at the Ukiah Branch of the Mendocino County Library (email@example.com, 707-485-4708).
Studies continue to support the contribution that regular exposure to language early in life makes in the academic outcomes for children. A new study by Anne Fernald, a Stanford psychologist, confirms earlier reports showing that 2-year-old children from lower-income families lag behind their more affluent peers in language development. Notably, they have vocabularies with significantly fewer words. Children with more robust vocabularies at age 2 go on to score higher on standardized tests of language and cognition in kindergarten and elementary school according to Fernald's work. This recent study builds on and confirms the work Betty Hart and Todd Risely documented in the classic book Meaningful Differences. The implication is clear: improving early literacy makes a long term impact on the well-being of children, especially low-income children. The solution to closing the gap lies in empowering parents and care givers to read to their very young children. So, take a moment to cuddle up and share a good book with a child in your life. 20 minutes will make a lifetime difference.
Visit www.HealthyMendocino.org to see this story and lots of additional information on health and well-being in Mendocino County. For more information on this story, contact firstname.lastname@example.org.