Reading to kids daily ‘improves their performance and behaviour at school’

Kids who are read to everyday are likely to perform better at school and have less behaviour problems, a new UK study has found.

A correlation between mothers who believe it is important to teach their toddler the alphabet, to count, and read to them regularly and the child’s achievement at the age of five was found by the Institute of Education’s study.

To reach the conclusion, the Government-commissioned study looked at the foundation stage profile, a teacher’s assessment of a child’s achievement after one year at school, and assessed the cognitive abilities of just over 8,000 five-year-olds.

It also used a questionnaire to assess each child’s behaviour.

The basis of the study focused on which factors are associated with achievement at the age of five, and took into account “parental variables” such as how much time is spent with the child reading, teaching the alphabet and counting, watching television, reports the Telegraph.

It concluded: “Reading to the child every day and having a mother who thinks it is important to stimulate young children are positively associated with all cognitive outcomes and negatively with problem behaviour.”

It said that reading to a child every day “appears to lower behavioural problems”.

The study found that kids who were read to daily did better in the naming vocabulary test, which involved the children being shown a picture and asked to identify the object.

They also performed better in the foundation stage profiles and had higher behaviour scores. (ANI)

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