The Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania invites you to participate in the Early Reading Forum. It is a yearly event by the National library that aims to promote a professional and credible message on the benefits of early reading. The event is meant for parents, future parents and experts working with the reading education of toddlers – librarians, experts in formal and non-formal education. We invite you to watch the live event broadcast.
Dr Austėja Landsbergienė will speak about the influence reading has on a child’s emotional and social development, and how we can foster it through reading experiences. Prof. Dr Bettina Kummerling-Meibauer will talk about how books, meant for children up to three years old, promotes the development of early literacy, that is essential in the development of more complex skills – visual, linguistic and media literacy. Dr Ramunė Dirvanskienė will review neuroscience research on the influence a linguistic environment has for early development and will explain how the linguistic environment of families and educational institutions influence children’s brains, also the influence done through different reading methods and the contents of a book. Dr Rita Dukynaitė will present the results of research conducted by international organisations on the reading abilities of Lithuanian pupils, the influence of a home environment on a child’s reading, and discuss the links with parental reading and early childhood education.
The Forum will also present current UNESCO programs for children’s education and reading, and also review projects that gift books to babies from around the world and talk about how they promote reading in families. The activities and future goals of the “Book Start” (Knygų startas) project in Lithuania will be presented, as well as an overview of the contribution of public libraries for the promotion of early childhood reading.
