Young children who perform better than their peers in reading do so for several reasons, but one of the most overlooked is this: lots of family talk. Far too many young children come to school with poor oral language skills because they just don't know enough words. The good news is that helping a young child is simple. By engaging kids in rich stories and having meaningful conversations with them, you - as a parent or a daycare provider or a preschool teacher - can help improve their oral language skills, which will eventually help them become better readers.

From Babbling to Books: Building Pre-Reading Skills is a 60-minute webcast that stresses the importance of working with young children early to develop language and pre-reading skills. It will provide adults who work with young children with research-based strategies that can help lay the foundation for building strong readers.