1. “Talking with babies doesn’t just build vocabularies; it also nurtures the development of cognitive and social-emotional skills.”(a)
2. “Learning to understand, use and enjoy language is the first step in literacy and the basis for learning to read and write. Learning to read starts from birth. Babies learn how to read signals all around them by listening to voices, watching faces and reading body language.” (b)
3. “Babies start to communicate from the day they are born. Before formal schooling ever begins, there are critical periods of rapid development when the brain is best able to acquire speech(sound production) and language (understanding and using words).”(c)
4. “Opportunities for children to explore language and literacy through play contribute to their development of strong language and cognitive abilities in both the short and the long term.”(d)
5. “Children use language and thinking skills to compare and plan, problem-solve, negotiate and evaluate in pretend play.”(e)
