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Partnership with national children's charity provides forum for transferring research results to wide, mainstream audience via web site.

Are educational computer games good for young children?

How do nursery rhymes help children develop language skills?

How is reading to my child beneficial to his language development?

These are questions parents often raise during their children's early years, but straightforward, easy-to-understand answers have not always been easy to come by. While plenty of anecdotal information is available, especially via the Internet, concerned parents have had a tougher time finding evidence-based, up-to-date answers to important questions about their child's language and reading abilities.

Now, with the help of the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network, sound scientific answers about language and literacy development are increasingly available to the public.

Partnering with Invest in Kids, a national charitable organization dedicated to the development of parenting skills, the network is transferring the results of its research to a wider, more mainstream audience.

"We're taking questions posed by parents or professionals about language and literacy and getting the answers from the experts," says Dr. Randy Lynn Newman, a postdoctoral fellow who works with Dr. Marc Joanisse in the Language, Reading and Cognitive Neuroscience lab at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Newman worked as the liaison between network researchers and Invest in Kids.

The partnership is one of many the network is developing to share language and literacy research with practitioners and parents.

"This joint arrangement between Invest in Kids and the network is a great example of partnership in action," says Scott Wells, Manager of Fund Development for the network. "The willingness to combine our resources in pursuit of common goals will further strengthen language and literacy development and early learning for children in Canada."

Invest in Kids was founded in 1993 and launched its web site in late 2002. Answers to challenging questions concerning the social, emotional and intellectual development of young children are available at the www.investinkids.ca site.

Dr. Liane Comeau, Manager of Research and Programs at Invest in Kids, sees the relationship with the network as a trade-pleases-all reciprocal agreement: the network needed a channel to reach the general public with its research, and Invest in Kids was looking for research-based content focused on children's language development.

"Language and literacy is a very integral part of cognitive development," says Dr. Comeau. "It was important for us to go after some quality content to be able to give parents very current and credible information."

While many organizations provide information on children's physical growth and health on the web and some tackle aspects of children's psychological development, Invest in Kids is a comprehensive source on all aspects of development. It gives parents practical information in an easy-to-understand style on various subject areas including cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development.

"This is a unique organization in that it deals with children's pre-literacy skills and many other preschool issues," says Dr. Newman.

For example, many parents believe the process of learning to read starts when their child begins school. But Dr. Newman says the skills that children will need to prepare for reading begin to develop at birth. Throughout their first five years, children learn to understand the flow of language, its syntax, reading from left to right, and more.

Invest in Kids seems to be catching on. As one reader puts it, "I love this site. I have found information on many issues I am currently faced with and know that this will be my first source for information in the future."

While there are currently just a few network-generated answers posted on the web site, Dr. Newman says many more are in the works. Meanwhile, to answer the initial question:

• Research shows that educational computer games can help children learn certain skills;
• Reciting nursery rhymes teaches children the rhythm of speech and intonation as well as the grammatical structure of language; and
• The latest science shows that reading to young children helps them to build a large vocabulary and a range of language skills such as good listening and comprehension.

www.cllrnet.ca