By reading a variety of books, magazines, and newspapers, students are exposed to complex vocabulary and reading becomes an excellent opportunity to learn new words. … Given the importance of reading for the lexical development of school-age children and adolescents, reading should be promoted as a leisure activity during these years. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2005

Literacy is vital for language development. It seems pretty obvious, but it’s something we can forget sometimes. Parents of children who don’t like to read are passionate about getting them to read “good books.” A group of researchers at the University of Oregon recently investigated what older children and young teens like to read and what else they like to do.

The results weren’t particularly surprising. Music and television, sports and video games were the most popular hobbies, while reading sits somewhere in between. Magazines were preferred to novels, and comics were popular as well. More importantly, reading time decreased as the children got older. This has vast implications for language development in adolescents. Sure, you can probably “speak very well” at fifteen, but at that age, English writing tasks become increasingly complex, job interviews begin, and comprehension becomes much more demanding from the point of view. technical as students are asked to assimilate data from technical science and mathematics. from multiple sources.

In the authors ‘opinion, speech pathologists should use students’ preferences so that they can continue reading leisurely, in whatever form. Why do I have multiple magazine subscriptions as an adult, but had to go out and buy my favorite comics at the newsstand as a kid? I hope I can keep all of this in mind when my children decrease their reading habit.

Resources: “Literacy as a leisure activity: leisure time preferences of older children and young adolescents”. – Nippold MA, Duthie JK, Larsen J