Research Roundup is a new series where I’ll be highlighting and offering links to recently published research and articles on the hot topics of reading, literacy, education and child development.

Link: “Two-Year-Olds with Larger Oral Vocabularies Enter Kindergarten Better Prepared“
This article, posted on psypost.org, provides an overview of an analysis published in the journal Child Development, which looked at the link between vocabulary at age 2 and academic and behavioral functioning at the start of kindergarten.

Link: “Home Reading Environment and Brain Activation in Preschool Children Listening to Stories“
Published in the journal Pediatrics, the research looks at the effect of exposure to reading at home on activation of the brain area associated with narrative comprehension and mental imagery.

Link: “Storytelling Skills Support Early Literacy for African American Children“
Research from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that the oral storytelling skills of African-American preschoolers were a predictor of emergent literacy in kindergarten.

Pre-reading skills, such as oral vocabulary and visualization, play a crucial role in subsequent cognitive development, academic success and life outcomes. The more we understand about specific learning mechanisms, the better we will be at helping little ones reach their full potential.

Do you have something to say about the studies above or about other research on child development? Leave a comment in the section below.