Littlescribe: My Life As a Wiradjuri Girl

The story was written as part of the Littlescribe program, which helps students build stronger literacy skills. In the story Shalia writes of her family, friends, school, culture and love of swimming.

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The below was written by Littlescribe founder Jenny Atkinson, on the significance of reading "off the page."

My husband has significantly impacted my children's literacy abilities more than I have.

It is a fact.

It is only since deep-diving into Littlescribe that I understand how his instinctive approach is proven by research to impact a child's literacy skills more than my approach.

The research also indicates his approach even has more impact than the commonly held belief that more books in a home is linked to more developed literacy skills.

In short, both of us have read to our children at night.

Hands down my husband has read more to the kids than I have over the years, but the real impact is not the frequency but how he reads.

You see when I read to the kids, especially when they were younger, I would do it like this:

I would choose a book based on what they were interested in or what I thought was at their level.

On a good day, I would point out colours, animals and together we would repeat numbers.

Most days I read in my low calm voice.

Hoping my tranquil tones would help them quickly drift into a deep sleep.

If I could get away with it I would skip a word or two, or paragraph, or even a page.

I crept quietly out the door on a stealth mission to grab a glass of wine and well...collapse.

When my husband reads he does it the way researchers have discovered impacts a child's early literacy skills more than any other single approach.

He chooses a book he likes. He enjoys the book and it shows in how he reads.

Tone and modulation change from exciting, angry, sad, soft - always with a Welsh lilt.

He reads off the page. He discusses the book, the page, he reflects, shares, expands ideas and words, building knowledge.

His approach "reads up," meaning adding more expansive vocab to the book and discovering words in context.

He chooses books trusting the kids' imagination will do justice to the topic. They work it out because they are intrigued and engaged.

He embraces and explores vivid complex vocabulary and ideas stimulated by the book.

One of my vivid memories is him reading to the kids, who were aged 8 and 11.

The book was Danny The Champion of the World by Roald Dahl and the word claustrophobic appeared.

They spent a good two minutes exploring the word, providing context, playing with the word and laughing with ways that it applied to them.

Harvard University research by Dr Elisabeth Duursma found Dads often spark an imaginative conversation that challenges children's language development.

The conversation is complex and abstract and they often link a child or their own life experiences to the story cementing context.

They do more than read the next sentence, they discover the story together.

This helps the kids unpack the story emotionally and intellectually layering a larger range of language concepts.

The take out of this is to apply what I call the three 'E's when reading.

Explore, experiment, and expand. Explore concepts, experiment with words, and expand the story by reading off the page.

My approach was the 'D's, Decide, Deliver and Do. Decide on a book (at their level), deliver it and do what it takes to get the gorgeous little things to close their eyes.

Research supports that in this case, Dad does it better and we should emulate his behaviors and techniques.

What do I love most about this research? I can tell myself, guilt-free, that it is the proven best literacy gift my kids can receive.

So I sip my glass of red and listen to the banter from the bedroom as he reads off the page and they explore the story and experiment with words together.