If there's one thing we could encourage every family to do more of, it would be this: read together. Not because you need to teach your child to read before school, and not because there's a set number of books to get through each week. But because shared reading — the kind where you sit together, look at pictures, talk about the story, and enjoy the experience — does a great deal for your child's language development.
At Speaking Speech Pathology, we talk about shared reading with almost every family we work with. As a mum of two young boys, I know first-hand how much those quiet reading moments matter. Here's why it matters so much, and why it's about far more than just the words on the page.
What Is Shared Reading?
Shared reading is exactly what it sounds like: reading a book together with your child. But it goes beyond simply reading the text aloud from start to finish.
Shared reading is the broad term. Within it, researchers have studied particular interactive approaches, the best known being dialogic reading, where the adult doesn't just read — they comment, expand on the child's responses, and make connections between the book and the child's own life. You don't need to follow a program to read this way, but it's where much of the evidence comes from. The child isn't a passive listener; they're an active participant in the conversation. The key word here is conversation — not testing or quizzing your child on every page.
Grover Whitehurst and colleagues were among the first researchers to formally describe and study dialogic reading, and their original study showed significant gains in young children's language skills when adults used this interactive approach (Whitehurst et al., 1988; Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998). Since then, the evidence has only grown stronger.
What the Evidence Tells Us
The research on shared reading and language development is remarkably consistent. Here's what we know:
Vocabulary Growth
Shared reading exposes children to words they might not encounter in everyday conversation. Picture books are full of rich, descriptive language — words like "enormous," "furious," "crept," and "delicious" — that go beyond the functional vocabulary of daily life. When adults pause to explain, point to pictures, and use new words in context, children's vocabularies grow (Mol et al., 2008).Narrative Skills
Stories have structure — a beginning, a middle, an end, characters, problems, and resolutions. Through shared reading, children begin to understand how stories work, which is a foundation for their own storytelling, comprehension, and eventually, their writing.Comprehension
Shared reading teaches children to think about what they're hearing. When you ask, "What do you think will happen next?" or "Why do you think he's sad?", you're building the thinking skills that underpin reading comprehension later on. Laura Justice and Amy Ezell's work on print referencing also shows that casually pointing out letters and words during shared reading — building concepts about print — supports stronger early literacy skills (Justice & Ezell, 2002).It's Not Just About Reading the Words
Here's something that surprises many parents: the most valuable part of shared reading often isn't the text itself. It's the conversation that happens around the text.
A child who sits quietly while a parent reads the story word-for-word is getting something real from that experience. Pausing, pointing, commenting, and following the child's interest adds to it. Notice that the focus is on commenting and following the child — not on quizzing.
This is especially true for younger children and children with language delays. For a two-year-old, you might not read the words at all. You might just talk about the pictures: "Look! A dog! A big, fluffy dog. He's running. Where's he going?" That's shared reading, and it counts.
Quality Over Quantity
You might have heard the advice to read a certain number of books a day, or to aim for a set number of minutes. While any reading is good reading, the research points to the way you read, the talk and the back-and-forth, as what makes the biggest difference.
A familiar book, shared with a few pauses and a bit of conversation, is a good place to start. There's no set number to get through, and a child who listens quietly is still taking it in. It's the quality of the interaction — the back-and-forth, the engagement, the shared attention — that drives the learning. In our experience, families often find the same picture book, read over and over, gives them more to talk about each time.
Whitehurst and Lonigan's research found that the interactive elements of dialogic reading — prompting the child to say something, expanding on what they say, and encouraging them to tell more — were the key ingredients in language gains (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998).
The Raising Children Network recommends shared reading as a daily activity and notes that it's the interaction between parent and child during reading that matters most.
Shared Reading Works for All Ages and Stages
One of the best things about shared reading is that you can start from birth and keep going for years. What it looks like changes as your child grows:
- Babies (0–12 months): Hold your baby close, point to bright pictures, use an animated voice, and let them touch and explore board books. You're building a positive association with books and with your voice — and giving them plenty of chances to babble back.
- Toddlers (1–3 years): Name pictures, make animal sounds, let your toddler turn the pages, and talk about what's happening. Comment on what you see together — there's no need to quiz.
- Preschoolers (3–5 years): Have richer conversations about the story. Wonder aloud together, make connections to their experiences, and follow their interest. The aim is conversation, not interrogation.
- School-age children: Even when children can read independently, shared reading remains valuable. Reading together and discussing books builds comprehension, critical thinking, and a love of reading.
You Don't Need to Be a Teacher
We want to be clear about this: shared reading isn't a lesson. You don't need special training, expensive resources, or a background in education. You just need a book, your child, and a willingness to talk and listen.
If your child wants to read the same book fifteen times in a row, that's great — repetition builds familiarity and confidence. If they want to skip pages or go backwards, follow their lead. If they'd rather talk about the picture of the dog for five minutes instead of moving on with the story, let them. That conversation is the learning.
What If My Child Isn't Interested in Books?
Some children take to books immediately; others need a bit more encouragement. If your child isn't keen on sitting down with a book, here are a few ideas:
- Choose books about their interests — trucks, animals, food, whatever lights them up
- Start with short, interactive books — lift-the-flap and touch-and-feel books are great for reluctant readers
- Don't force it — if they wander off after two pages, that's okay. Two pages of engaged reading is better than ten pages of resistance
Shared reading is one of the simplest and best-supported things you can do for your child's language development, and it's enjoyable too. It doesn't cost much, it doesn't take long, and it builds connection alongside communication. If you'd like to know how to make reading time even richer for your child's language goals, we'd love to show you how.
Ready for practical strategies? Read our companion article: How to Make Shared Reading Count: Language Modelling with Picture Books | Brisbane
Alexandra Bouwmeester is a Senior Speech Pathologist (MSPA, CPSP) and certified Sounds-Write clinician — and mum of two young boys who request the same picture books on endless repeat. She supports literacy-rich reading with families across Brisbane's south side and Logan.
References
- Justice, L. M., & Ezell, H. K. (2002). Use of storybook reading to increase print awareness in at-risk children. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11(1), 17–29.
- Mol, S. E., Bus, A. G., de Jong, M. T., & Smeets, D. J. H. (2008). Added value of dialogic parent–child book readings: A meta-analysis. Early Education and Development, 19(1), 7–26.
- Whitehurst, G. J., Falco, F. L., Lonigan, C. J., Fischel, J. E., DeBaryshe, B. D., Valdez-Menchaca, M. C., & Caulfield, M. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture book reading. Developmental Psychology, 24(4), 552–559.
- Whitehurst, G. J., & Lonigan, C. J. (1998). Child development and emergent literacy. Child Development, 69(3), 848–872.
