Nurturing environments also nurture good readers.

Once upon a time, a controversial claim was made that you can read to your kids all you want but that won’t guarantee they will be good readers. That claim was made in 2005 in the book Freakonomics by authors Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt. The authors said, having wealthy and educated parents is a better gauge for high literacy. Well, there’s a new study out that claims that’s only partly true.

According to a new study by Ohio University researchers, Dubner and Levitt were right about genetics playing a large part in early reading development. But if you have a preschooler that’s not too keen on reading yet… take heart. The study found that a supportive environment can help make kids better readers.

So what kind of support do children need to make them hit the books more? A supportive environment would include — surprise, surprise — good school instruction, proper nutrition, a caring home environment and parents who read to their children. Yes, all that nightly reading of Dr. Seuss and Leo Lionni are not in vain!

Study lead author Stephen Perill, a professor of human development and family science at Ohio State University explained in a university press release: “Regardless of where children start as far as reading skills, and the impact that genetics and environment had on their initial skills, we found that their environment had an impact on how fast or how slowly those reading skills developed.”

The researchers concluded that when children begin to read, both genetics and environment play a role in the development of skills, but to different degrees. In word and letter identification, environment explained about two-thirds of the test results, while genetics explained one-third. For vocabulary and sound awareness, genetics and environment had equal influence. Genetics accounted for 75 percent of results on reading speed tests.

However, when Petrill and colleagues measured the children’s growth in reading skills, environment became a much more important influence. Environment is almost completely responsible for the growth of reading skills that are taught, such as words and letters, and 80 percent responsible for growth in awareness of sounds in reading.

The study findings are published in the online edition of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Teachers have known this all along. They’ve seen it in their students. Learning does begin at home and it helps tremendously when kids are stress-free, fed healthy and cared for by their moms and dads. A good school helps but a good home life also contributes to successful learners. Not much surprise there, but a reminder that a little good parenting can go a long way.

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