When my daughter was in school and living at home, her friends quickly found that watching TV at our house was a little different from what they were used to.
I had very tall speakers set up on each side of my chair so I could turn the sound up very loud to hear. Back then, I didn't have neighbors on the other side of the wall to worry about and I could really crank the sound up so I could hear like I used to. When my daughter was home, however, I used headphones so we would not damage her hearing. Headphones aren't perfect, especially with all the music in the background when people on TV are talking. It makes it difficult to distinguish speech sounds. We always had the closed captions turned on. She has always been an excellent reader.
Our eight year old son is currently reading books beyond his age level. Could it be because he was raised "reading" TV?
Our eight year old son is currently reading books beyond his age level. Could it be because he was raised "reading" TV?
When one of my daughter's friends came over the first time, he was quite agitated with the text coming up at the bottom of the screen. He was not much of a reader, and reading was difficult for him. It wasn't long before he became used to the closed captioning, and didn't pay much attention to it, or so he thought.
At the end of the school term, his reading skills had improved at a remarkable rate. He told everyone it was because he was "reading TV" at our house.
If you have a child at home struggling with reading, I would encourage you to use the Closed Caption (CC) option on your TV. It may very well help your child's reading skills.
Yes! When I worked as a Librarian at a public library, I would tell parents of reluctant readers that turning the captions on will help their children improve their reading skills. Studies show that captions also help adults learning English as a Second Language. Captions are great for everyone!
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