In 2017, Read Lab alumna Christy Pavlov (nee McCullom) wanted to know more about the benefits of reading aloud with young children, but not the benefits to the children, themselves (we know there’s LOTS of those!) but more the benefits to the adult reader.
Does reading a book with a young child make an adult feel happy? Does it give them a sense of connection? Is there something special about reading, above and beyond just being together with a child that can have some positive emotional benefit for the reader?
Well, it turns out, yes.
After three years and the teamwork of five other research students in the Read Lab, including recent graduate Sara Rabinowitz who worked through the pandemic on analyzing data and writing about this work, a new paper is out that describes and documents the real mood boosts that volunteer readers experience when they read aloud with preschool-aged children.
The best part, is this new study is open-access, so you can read about all the details here.
In fact, maybe you should read this paper aloud, with a child, and see how you feel after š
