Created in 2007 by the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), The Pennsylvania Key implements the work and supports the policies developed and managed by OCDEL. Learn More. >
Created in 2007 by the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), The Pennsylvania Key implements the work and supports the policies developed and managed by OCDEL. Learn More. >When you think about how you learned language as a young child, who comes to mind? It’s likely a parent or caregiver reading a book, sharing family stories, singing lullabies or teaching cultural tradition!
These early interactions remind us that families are a child’s first and most important teachers and play a vital role in supporting language and literacy development from the very beginning.
National Early Literacy Month, observed each September, highlights a simple but powerful truth: early literacy begins with families.
Long before a child enters school, the foundations of reading, communication, and learning are built through relationships and everyday interactions. Language and literacy development begins during the prenatal period and continues to grow throughout infancy and early childhood. During these formative years, families play the most influential role in nurturing the skills that support lifelong learning and success.
The Pennsylvania Family Engagement Birth through College, Career, Community Ready Framework, a resource developed in 2019 by the Pennsylvania Departments of Education and Human services, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), recognizes families as a child’s first teachers and emphasizes the importance of authentic partnerships between families and professionals. These partnerships create opportunities to support children’s learning and development from the very beginning. Whether through talking, singing, reading, storytelling, cultural traditions, or everyday routines, families provide rich language experiences that lay the foundation for literacy and learning.
The importance of these interactions is evident even before birth. Research shows that babies begin learning language during the prenatal period, as they hear voices, rhythms, and sounds that help lay the groundwork for later communication. After birth, everyday experiences such as talking, singing, reading, cuddling, and responding to a baby’s cues support brain development and strengthen the connections needed for language and literacy. Through these interactions, children develop vocabulary, listening skills, comprehension, and an early appreciation for language.
National Early Literacy Month serves as an important reminder that families do not need specialized programs or expensive materials to support literacy development. Reading books, sharing stories, singing songs, describing daily activities, and engaging in conversation all help build emerging literacy skills. Consistent, responsive interactions are among the most effective ways to promote early learning and development.
This connection reinforces a powerful message: family engagement is one of the most effective ways to promote early literacy. By recognizing family strengths, valuing family expertise, and building on the meaningful interactions already taking place in homes and communities, professionals can help ensure that every child has a strong foundation for language, literacy, and lifelong success. When families are supported in their role as educators and advocates, children, families, and communities all benefit.
The importance of everyday interactions in supporting early literacy is powerfully illustrated in Molly Wright’s TED Talk, How Every Child Can Thrive by Five. Wright, who was seven years old at the time, highlights how simple, responsive interactions, such as talking, playing, reading, singing, and responding to a child’s cues, help build the brain connections that support lifelong learning and development. She emphasizes the concept of serve and return, where adults respond to a child’s attempts to communicate, creating meaningful back-and-forth interactions that strengthen relationships and learning. Whether through a game of peekaboo, a shared story, or everyday conversation, these moments of connection help build communication skills, vocabulary, confidence, and a love of learning.
Families and professionals interested in learning more can view Molly Wright’s TED Talk, How Every Child Can Thrive by Five, for an inspiring reminder that small everyday interactions can have a lasting impact on a child’s future.
The Pennsylvania Family Engagement Birth through College, Career, Community Ready Framework also recognizes that a child’s learning and development are supported by a broad network of family members and caregivers. The Framework defines family as “those people who have intimate, caring bonds with each other over time and who take care of a child physically and emotionally.” This inclusive definition acknowledges that many family members and caregivers contribute to a child’s growth, learning, and literacy development.
Early language and literacy skills are nurtured through everyday interactions with people who care for and support children. Whether it is a grandparent sharing family stories, an older sibling reading a favorite book, an aunt teaching songs and rhymes, or a caregiver engaging a child in conversation during daily routines, each interaction helps build language, communication, and literacy skills. By recognizing and valuing the contributions of all family members, professionals can foster stronger partnerships and reinforce the message that every meaningful interaction supports a child’s learning and development.
Professionals who work with young children and families, including home visitors, early interventionists, pediatric providers, educators, and child care professionals, play an important role in strengthening family confidence. By affirming family strengths, modeling simple literacy-building practices, and nurturing responsive relationships, professionals can help caregivers recognize the value of their everyday interactions and their ability to positively influence their child’s development.
This work aligns closely with Standard 3 of the Pennsylvania Family Engagement Birth through College, Career, Community Ready Framework, which calls on learning communities to partner with families to identify information, resources, and strategies that support them in their roles as teachers, models, encouragers, monitors, and advocates for their children’s learning and development.
Early literacy provides countless opportunities to put this standard into practice. When professionals help families recognize that talking during daily routines, singing familiar songs, sharing stories, or responding to a child’s communication attempts are valuable literacy-building experiences, they reinforce the important role families already play in supporting their child’s growth.
This strength-based approach is especially important because learning happens throughout everyday routines. When families recognize that conversations at mealtime, singing in the car, or sharing a bedtime story support literacy development, they are more likely to engage intentionally and confidently with their children. Helping families see themselves as capable and essential partners in learning strengthens their confidence and creates a strong foundation for future success.
Supporting early literacy is a shared responsibility among families, early childhood professionals, and communities. In addition to empowering families as their child’s first teachers, it is equally important to ensure that professionals have the knowledge and skills needed to support language and literacy development. OCDEL and the Pennsylvania Key continue to support Professional Development Organizations (PDOs), which play a critical role in strengthening the early childhood workforce. Through educational pathways, credentialing opportunities, and ongoing professional learning, PDOs help educators implement evidence-based practices and build meaningful partnerships with families.
In the past, the Parents and Partners in Professional Development (P3D) initiative, led by OCDEL’s Bureau of Early Intervention Services and Family Supports (BEISFS) in collaboration with Early Intervention Technical Assistance (EITA), partnered with Pennsylvania’s Professional Development Organizations (PDOs) to elevate family voice in the preparation of future early childhood professionals.
Through this initiative, family members shared their lived experiences and perspectives with faculty and students at colleges and universities, helping future educators better understand the value of authentic family-professional partnerships.
Together, such efforts support professionals in empowering families to create literacy-rich environments that help their children in developing the skills they need to learn, grow, and thrive.
For families of children with developmental delays or disabilities, early language and literacy experiences are just as important and can be tailored to support each child’s unique strengths, abilities, and needs. Every interaction, from responding to a child’s gestures, sounds, or attempts to communicate to sharing books, singing songs, using visual supports, or engaging in everyday routines, helps build communication skills and connections that support learning.
Literacy experiences can be adapted in many ways. Families may use books with tactile features or enlarged pictures, incorporate sign language or augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) during story time, sing repetitive songs with gestures, create visual schedules, or use familiar objects to tell stories. They can also support literacy by following their child’s interests, describing everyday activities, offering choices, and celebrating all forms of communication, whether through facial expressions, gestures, spoken language, sign language, or assistive technology.
Families may sometimes wonder whether their efforts are making a difference, especially when a child develops language or communication skills at a different pace. However, consistent, responsive interactions with caring adults provide powerful opportunities for growth.
By partnering with families, honoring their expertise, and recognizing their deep knowledge of their child, professionals can help build confidence and support meaningful language and literacy experiences that foster communication, connection, and lifelong learning.
OCDEL’s BEISFS in partnership with Parent to Parent of Pennsylvania and the Early Intervention Technical Assistance (EITA) program, offers a variety of opportunities that help families become informed partners in their child’s development, confident advocates, and effective leaders. These initiatives provide families with information, resources, and peer-to-peer support while creating meaningful opportunities to connect with other families who share similar experiences.
Through training, networking, leadership development, and family engagement activities, families can build the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to support their children and contribute to systems that serve children and families across Pennsylvania.
To learn more about these family engagement and leadership opportunities, visit EITA’s Families page and the Parent to Parent of Pennsylvania website.
OCDEL’s Bureau of Early Intervention Services and Family Supports (BEISFS) administers Pennsylvania’s Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, which promotes early language and literacy development through evidence-based home visiting models such as Nurse-Family Partnership, Early Head Start, and Parents as Teachers. These programs partner with families to strengthen parent-child relationships and support everyday interactions, such as talking, reading, singing, and playing, that help build the foundation for literacy, learning, and school readiness.
By partnering with families in their homes and other natural environments, home visitors support parent-child relationships and help caregivers recognize how everyday activities such as talking, reading, singing, playing, and responding to a child’s cues promote communication and learning. These efforts align with MIECHV’s early language and literacy performance measure and reinforce a central message; families are their child’s first and most important teachers.
An important aspect of family engagement is recognizing and valuing the varied cultural and linguistic backgrounds of families. For many families, literacy development extends beyond traditional book reading. Oral traditions, family stories, poems, songs, prayers, and other cultural practices provide rich language experiences that support vocabulary development, memory, communication skills, and a strong sense of identity.
These experiences often begin before birth. Parents and caregivers may talk, sing, pray, or share cultural traditions with their unborn child, strengthening early language and learning connections. During infancy and early childhood, these practices continue through lullabies, stories, religious passages, family histories, proverbs, blessings, and everyday conversations.
While families may not always recognize these activities as literacy-building experiences, they expose children to language, rhythm, vocabulary, and communication patterns that support brain development and learning. As professionals, we have an important role in helping families understand the value of these culturally meaningful interactions. By affirming and celebrating family practices, we can help caregivers recognize that they are already supporting their child’s development in powerful ways.
These conversations reinforce a simple but important message: families are a child’s first and most important teachers. The languages, stories, traditions, and cultural practices they share every day provide a strong foundation for literacy, learning, and well-being. By building on these strengths, professionals can foster authentic partnerships that support both children and families.
Supporting families as they nurture their children’s early language, literacy, and learning is essential. Equally important is creating opportunities for families to share their experiences, perspectives, and expertise to help shape the programs, policies, and practices that serve children and families. When families are engaged as leaders at the local, regional, and state levels, they help ensure that systems are more responsive, inclusive, and effective for all families.
Family voices are especially valuable in informing efforts that support early language and literacy development. Families bring firsthand knowledge of everyday interactions, cultural traditions, communication styles, and support that contribute to children’s learning. Their lived experiences can help guide decisions that are practical, family-centered, and reflective of the diverse communities served across Pennsylvania.
For professionals seeking to strengthen family partnerships and leadership, OCDEL’s Family Leadership Toolkit is a valuable resource. Developed in collaboration with families and maternal and early childhood partners, the toolkit provides strategies, tools, and guidance for engaging families as authentic partners and leaders in decision-making. By intentionally creating pathways for family leadership, programs and systems can ensure that family perspectives help shape initiatives that strengthen support for all children and families, including efforts to promote children’s language and literacy development, learning, and overall well-being.
OCDEL is committed to ensuring that family voices are at the center of decision-making across its bureaus, programs, and partnerships. In collaboration with families and maternal and early childhood partners, OCDEL continues its efforts to support parents and caregivers not only as their child’s first teacher, but also as valued partners and leaders who help shape programs, policies, and practices that impact children and families including efforts to support early literacy and learning.
At the same time, OCDEL is committed to building the capacity of professionals to engage families as authentic partners. Through training, resources, technical assistance, and leadership development opportunities, professionals are supported in developing the skills and practices needed to foster meaningful, strengths-based partnerships with families.
To further advance this work, OCDEL established a new Family Engagement and Leadership Coordinator position, effective August 1, to support and expand family engagement and leadership efforts across Pennsylvania.
To learn more or share ideas related to family engagement and leadership, please email Sadia Batool, OCDEL’s Family Engagement and Leadership Coordinator.
This National Early Literacy Month, let’s celebrate the many ways families nurture literacy from the very beginning. Whether through books, conversations, songs, stories, cultural traditions, or everyday interactions, families provide children with their earliest and most meaningful learning experiences. By recognizing, valuing, and building on family strengths, we can help every family feel empowered in their role as a child’s first teacher and create a strong foundation for lifelong literacy, learning, and success.