The Importance of Diversity in Children’s Books Allie Schroeder

The Importance of Diversity in Children’s Books

Allie Schroeder

Addressing topics of diversity in classrooms is often postponed for children until after their most formative years. It is important to offer children a diverse array of subjects and characters in their books because of the plasticity of their brains at such an early age. If children are introduced to people of different races, religions, ethnicities, backgrounds, gender identities, sexualities, or abilities after their own biases have been formed, they will be more likely to feel hostility toward those who are different from them. Combatting these biases and misconceptions early is vital in the development of well-rounded, conscientious teenagers and adults. Due to the recent expansion of diverse children's books, there are no significant longitudinal studies about the long-term effects of early exposure to diversity, but they are expected to be positive. In turn, it is important for children of less commonly represented groups to see themselves in the books that they are reading at a young age. Especially for children who have differing abilities or belong to marginalized groups, it is important for them to accept themselves for who they are and develop a positive self-image at a young age. While the children’s book publishing industry is still dominated by white people, increased efforts to improve diversity spell out a hopeful future.

Diverse Reading and the Mind

Jonah Schwartz

Studies show that children who read diverse children’s books at a young age are more likely to make personal connections to the reading material and feel affirmed by said material, leading to more reading amongst children who are exposed to diversity in books. Kids who read books that reflect their interests and diverse life experiences demonstrate more reading motivation and the more choices available of diverse, self-reflective, and high-quality books, the greater the likelihood that more children will be motivated to support their developing literacy. In a 2014 study, it was found that white people who had exposure to childhood diversity had far less of an amygdala response when seeing familiar black faces, which researchers take as a possible sign that early childhood exposure to diversity makes the brain better equipped—after that initial period of uncertainty—to process black faces as individuals (Cloutier et al.). Ultimately, children who are exposed to diversity through children’s books are more motivated to read, feel more connected to reading and literature, and are affirmed in their own identities.

Communication through Letter Boards

Phoebe Schwartz

Having access to letter communication boards is essential for non-speaking students to gain an education and communicate. For many years it was assumed that neurodivergent, non-speaking students were unable to communicate and lacked intelligence. The Rapid Prompting Method (RPM), also referred to as Spelling to Communicate (S2C), are fairly new techniques that presume competence in neurodivergent students. These methods are now used to help people with disabilities such as SYNGAP1 (a rare genetic intellectual disability resulting in impaired language and motor skills) and autism, communicate through pointing at letters to spell words with the assistance of a trained facilitator. Individuals such as Ellie Green, a 20-year old non-speaking young woman with SYNGAP1, are able, through this method, to express information they have learned and retained. Communicating with Ellie on a daily basis can be frustrating for both Ellie and those around her as she is unable to verbally express her needs and wants. While she has learned a few hand gestures (signs such as “yes” and “more”) and basic vocalizations expressing frustrations, communication through the letter board allows Ellie to demonstrate her intelligence and express her feelings more effectively.

Reading Visualization in English as A Second Language Students

Jana Stemple

Visualization exercises increase reading comprehension in students who are learning English as a second language. The use of visualization exercises while reading is known to aid in the language acquisition of students who are learning a second language by increasing vocabulary comprehension (Ghaedi & Shahrokhi, 2016). Research on visualization in English as a second language learners has primarily focused on students in high school and older and on the impact of visualization in their second language. There has been little research that has directly compared visualization in students’ primary and second languages. In an experiment with 7-9-year-olds who speak English as a second language, students exhibited improved reading comprehension when using Visualizing and Verbalizing exercises. Students also were more successful in visualization exercises in English likely because that is the language they are most familiar with when reading. Many of these students speak Spanish at home yet learned to read in English in kindergarten and therefore are more accustomed to reading in English than Spanish. Overall, English reading comprehension is improved when visualization exercises are used in students who speak English as a second language.

Multilingual Scattergories

Defne Tanyldiz

Bilingual speaker’s performance on word games changes between languages. When playing games, Finnish-English bilingual players orient themselves to the game through code-switching to figure out which language they need to utilize and when (Piirainen-Marsh, 2010). Specific word games for players of various bilingual backgrounds has not been properly studied, nor has there been a game developed to benefit bilingual players. In this experiment, bilingual players were asked to play multiple rounds of a game of Scattergories in their various languages. The experiment found that players performed better in their socializing/studying language, but not necessarily in the language they first learned. Playing word games like Scattergories specialized for bilingualism can help hone bilingual learners’ phonemic word recognition skills as well as their word association in various languages.

Dyslexia and Learning a Foreign Language

Kalkidan Tefera

Learning a foreign language has been proven to remediate dyslexia, a learning disability that is present in 15% of the nation’s population. Dyslexia comprises 85% of the learning disabled population. Dyslexia does not interfere with intelligence, but rather presents reading challenges. A foreign language can convey concepts that don't exist in the English language giving the reader more options to recall a certain word. Understood, a platform designed to break the learning disability stigma, claims Spanish to be the best foregin language for people with dyslexia. Spanish has fewer rules, exceptions, and five vowel sounds as well as many root words that are the same as English. Teaching the connection between the letters and sounds in a foreign language has been shown to help kids with dyslexia succeed in reading.

Multilingualism, Reading, and Stereotypes

Lua Varner

Multilingual readers excel at utilizing numerous functions of the brain when reading but are often described as disadvantaged and are discouraged from seeing their ability to read in more than one language as a gift. This prejudice emerges from “…a legacy of colonialism and partly a result of ‘melting pot’ mentality, which assumes that it is only success in the dominant social language that matters” (Kokkola et al. 2013). Inside the brains of multilinguals, there are changes in the left inferior gyrus, the right hemisphere’s involvement in reading, and the gray matter density of the posterior parietal cortex. Additionally, multilingual readers use more approaches when reading, such as global reading, support reading, and problem solving strategies. None of these anatomical or skill set differences make a multilingual reader inferior to a monolingual reader; these variations rather show multilingual readers’ superiority in conscious introspection and finding connections between and within multiple languages while reading.

OCD and its Effects on Reading

Sophia Viens

There is a direct connection between the diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder and a reading deficiency or difficulty. Reading is structured on six main abilities: letter identification, phonological skills, grapheme skills, sequencing skills, short term memory, and lexical knowledge. Although OCD affects specific parts of the brain regardless of the details of the diagnosis, there are many different types of OCD, including contamination, harm, symmetry, accomplishment, and pure obsessions without one such overarching idea. The compulsions within the diagnosis are so varied and consuming that they affect all six skills included within the ability to read. There is an additional connection between OCD and the diagnosis of dyslexia, which depends on someone’s personal compulsions. Therefore, the very nature of the disorder means that people with OCD are inherently more likely to be diagnosed with anywhere between subtle to overt reading deficiencies.

Social Interaction and Reading Comprehension

Daniel Villamil

Social interaction while reading increases reading comprehension and participation. Asking students questions while reading to them has been found to increase the amount of participation within the students. In an experiment in an elementary classroom at Paideia, the students were able to participate more when the reader interacted with them throughout the book. The percentage of participation increased by roughly 50%. The students who interacted with the reader tended to want to participate more and had a clearer understanding of the book. Reading comprehension is challenged when asked questions throughout the book which makes it easier for the brain to synthesize answers when it comes to the end of the book. More students feel comfortable raising their hand after reader engagement because they tend to know the meaning of the book by the end. They have been challenged to comprehend it throughout the reading exercise with the questions that are asked.