Guest author and Clemson University Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, Anna H. Hall illustrates in “Every Child is a Writer: Understanding the Importance of Writing in Early Childhood,” how toddlers and preschoolers express their feelings and communicate with a writing instrument and  paper, and informs adults how to encourage such activity.

This brief addresses the importance of fostering early writing skills in early childhood; research-based barriers and opportunities for writing in early childhood environments; and the policy considerations related to early writing development. The primary audience is early childhood teachers and administrators; recommendations are also made for families and community stakeholders.

Excerpt: Children as young as two years of age make marks on paper to express their feelings and communicate with others.[i] Although toddlers and preschoolers may not write conventionally, they demonstrate their writing abilities in a variety of ways such as scribbling, drawing, and making letter-like forms. The ways in which adults respond to children’s first writing attempts can nurture or extinguish children’s natural desire to write; therefore, it is critical for parents, teachers, administrators, and community stakeholders to understand the important stages of writing development and to encourage positive attitudes toward writing.

Accompanying document, “How Adults can Foster Writing Readiness.”