Benefits of reading for school readiness
10/19/2026 by Tommy DeCesare, M.D.
Have you ever wondered why your child’s pediatrician talks so much about reading to your child? It may seem a little silly reading to your 2-month-old baby when they are staring in a different direction and are completely uninterested in the book you’re holding.
But this recommendation isn’t just your pediatrician wanting to tell you what to do. The research is quite surprising and worth talking about.
In the last 10 years, there have been many studies looking into the effects that reading to your child has on their development and school-readiness. A group from Ohio State spent time quantifying the number of words spoken to and around babies throughout the course of a day. They also looked at how many words are in books designed for babies and toddlers.
On average, board books designed for babies contain 140 words, while picture books designed for toddlers contain 228 words. Based on this information, the research group estimated that these are the number of words kids hear by the time they are 5 years old:
- Never read to: 4,662.
- One to two times per week: 63,570.
- Three to five times per week: 169,520.
- Daily: 296,660.
- Five books per day: 1,483,300.
This “million-word gap” between kids who have multiple books per day read to them compared to children who never are read to is striking. When these same researchers followed the kids over time, they found that those who heard over 1 million words by the age of 5 were more likely to read for pleasure and demonstrated better readiness by the time they began kindergarten.
Hearing that number of words also expands the vocabulary of young children. For example, a book about zoo animals is more likely to mention words like “forest” or “environment” — words that kids are not likely to hear in everyday conversation. All pediatricians want their patients to be ready for kindergarten and succeed in the school setting.
Importantly, this research remained true even if the same books were read to children repeatedly. The expectation is not that you read the dictionary to your toddler; but even reading the same books multiple times is likely to lead to better success in kindergarten.
Taking the time to do this at home also sets an expectation that reading is important enough to do at home. Most young children idolize their parents, and modeling an educational environment at home is a great practice to keep. This also is wonderful quality time that even young children will be likely to remember as they get older.
Tommy DeCesare, M.D., is a resident in Community Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. He is training to become a child neurologist, which will begin in 2027. He hopes to care for patients in Child Neurology and is considering future training in epilepsy.