I recently keynoted an early childhood conference in Greenville, NC. The topic was literacy and young children.
I think it’s fairly common knowledge among those who work with young kids that there are those who mistakenly want to push explicit literacy instruction into earlier and earlier ages. The problem is that many or most children’s brains aren’t developmentally ready for the kind of symbolic and abstract approaches that reading requires. And yet many politicians and parents don’t get this. They think that the earlier you start teaching reading, the better the outcomes.
Here’s a fine article that goes into more depth about this topic.
Play on.