“What Does Reading Look Like At 17 Months Old?”

/ Early Literacy, Language Literacy Connection, Parenting, Pre and Early Literacy / By / 3 minutes of reading

This is Oliver, the adorable grandson of one of my longtime friends and colleagues, Sharon R.

Photo and video used with permission.

Please do spend literally 1 minute watching this short video. Here it is!

This 17 month old provides us with much information we can use as we approach helping our children understand and enjoy language and literacy, and of course, pre-reading.

I promise you Oliver has been read with/to on a regular basis. He has likely heard hundreds of books in his short life, as his grandmother is a reading specialist who has deep knowledge of the Science of Reading research and has been applying it when teaching her own students in her challenging school district. Sharon is a “teacher’s teacher“ since she also spends time working with teachers in her district. I suspect Oliver’s parents and other grandparents have also gotten into the act by also reading with Oliver.

I bet Oliver has listened to many of the same books over and over, as most young children love to do.  That’s how we learn best–through vast amounts of repetition. We learn everything about language this way including speaking, listening, singing, writing, and reading.  That’s also how we learn other activities such as dance steps, playing a musical instrument or playing a sport. The list is endless.

Let me share what I learned from Oliver:

  1. He’s interested in books. Note how he looks at each of these tiny board books for about a few seconds. The typical attention span for a child his age is actually about a minute. He is where he should be in terms of attention span.
  2. He maintains focus, albeit short, on what is on the pages he chooses to look at.
  3. He verbalizes as he turns the pages of the board books. I suspect he is imitating people reading to/with him. I watched the video twice before I realized what Oliver was doing.
  4. He knows how to turn the pages of a book.
  5. He knows that books have a certain way to be held—notice that one of the books, at first, is upside down–and then notice how Oliver rotates the book so that it is right side up. This occurs right at the beginning of the video and again at 60 seconds.
  6. I suspect that Oliver is read with/to in a relaxing atmosphere since he reclines every time he opens one of his board books, then sits up, retrieves another one, and then reclines once again as he ‘reads’.

Just a little ‘add on’ information about language development in this age group. Most children can understand ten times more language than they can use themselves. That’s why when Oliver “shows us how to read”, he uses his own language, which sounds to adults as a mix of made-up words and words adults can understand. Notice that Oliver uses something known as ‘tuneful jargon’, where he mimics the tone and rhythm or cadence of adult speech as he “reads”. 

I encourage you to continue to interact with your child in conversation as much as possible, continue to read with/to your child, and be sure your child sees you reading (but not from your phone please!!) to encourage an interest in books and reading.

11 thoughts on ““What Does Reading Look Like At 17 Months Old?””

  1. Glen Verhoff

    Great info! I have a short video on my phone of my great-niece reading. Like Oliver she has had many books read to her, she could turn the pages, and she was doing some sort of “language/word speak” as she went along. As Lori says, these observations can speak volumes. Recently, through a subbing job, I worked with some kindergarten children, and I discovered that once I taught them a routine, it was superglued into their brains and it would be hard to undo! Small children are SPONGES! I have a saying, “The brain records everything we do.” It so important for parents and educators to get things recorded correctly. Thanks for the post, Lori!

    1. Lori Josephson

      Glen,
      You are the VERY FIRST person to post a comment. Not surprising at all!! Love your comment, “The brain records everything we do.” This is especially true for our very youngest.

  2. Linda Reiner

    One of the kindergarten subtests in Aimsweb for the fall benchmark is “Print Concepts,” which Oliver is exhibiting in this video! Tragically, many of our kindergarteners do not do well on this subtest because they haven’t been read with/to on a regular basis. Thanks for the post Lori!

  3. Emily

    What astute observations on Oliver reading! I wouldn’t have noticed all of those but it is pretty remarkable to re-watch the video with your comments in mind.

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