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January 2011 Moms
language development? (Redzee?)
Redzee I think I remember you mentioning you studied/are studying language and language development? If not I'm sorry!
Whoever it was, can you help me with this question? I know reading to your child is important. Is it more important for them to hear the language and syntax, etc read aloud to them, or to actually sit down and look at a book while it's being read aloud? This is purely because I'm lazy, and would rather read aloud while Simon plays than wrestle with him turning pages. But I don't want to cheat him of the benefits, so I will wrestle if I must. 
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Re: language development? (Redzee?)
IANAST (I Am Not A Speech Therapist) but I don't think being able to see the words is all too important. I mean, people can be fluent in a language and still be illiterate, kwim?
Though, that said we have a few books I try to make sure to show her as we read. We have one with mirrors in it that she loves, and a few 'pat the bunny'-style tactile books. Her absolute favorites though, are the ones she barely looks at, but have a lot of vocal modulation. Like There's A Monster At The End Of This Book ( https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Sesame-Street-Little-Golden/dp/037582913X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314796468&sr=1-1 ), where Grover alternately yells and whispers and pleads, with obvious stresses on specific words. "YOU TURNED ANOTHER PAGE! You do not know what you are DOING to me."
Good point. I wasn't too concerned with him seeing the words so much as wondering about the practice, or ritual if you will, of sitting down and turning pages. I think it's important to learn that, but I'm not sure at what age it will start to matter.
Great book suggestion! Both my boys also love that, or books with plenty of dialogue so I can do different voices for each character. One of Joshua's faves is The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. Or The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs. He's all boy and totally digs that type of humor.
ETA: We have one of those GIANT My First Word books, and Simon LOVES it. Especially the page that's a giant pic of a kid's face. That one I'm always sure to have him look at while I point to the words' corresponding pictures.
Also, by the time our kids are avid readers, it might be that they're NOT turning pages anymore. I fully expect that if we have a 2nd in 3-4 years, the Bump tri boards will be full of 'are you getting the fisher price my first e-reader or the graco easy e-reader?'
ugh! This is a hot topic for me. I have no problem with people owning e-readers, I understand how they are "handy" (heh). But the written word is one of mankind's greatest achievements, and having everything go digital is WAY too much on the path of Fahrenheit 451 for me. I'm also against editing text in older writings to make it more modern or less offensive. When everything goes digital, changing history will be as easy as clicking a button.
Not to mention staring at a back-lit screen messes with your brain... ok, I'm done here.
This just made you one of my favorite people (Congrats, have a trophy!) I started reading the series to the boys last month.
Sorry I'm late on this - we're in Cape Cod on "vacation" (it's more exhausting than being at home 'cause DD has been up all night).
I do study language acquisition - you had the right person. I don't really study reading but I've definitely heard about in my classes, at conferences, etc.
Is your question: will showing my kid the books help him learn language?
If so, the answer is: Language is separate from reading. As broc said, your kid will learn language regardless of books.
For literacy, I think it's helpful to show kids the actual books and have them recognize that there are words and stuff like that. I can look into it a bit more, but I think that just having the books around is a good start at this age. I don't think you need to make sure he sees you reading every page. I fight with DD for some books (the more tactile ones and some of the hard cover ones) and not with others. The point at this age is just to get them familiar with books.
And as for different and voices and accents: so true. Babies listen to intonation and learn a lot about language from that. (But don't start changing things up, whatever you do naturally is just right.)
Thanks!