Washington, May 13 (ANI): Kids, whose parents read aloud to them are likely to develop better language and literacy skills when they go to school, says a new study.

Young children are likely to develop a love of reading, which can be even more important than the head start in language and literacy and the advantages they gain remain consistent.

And children who start out as poor readers in their first year of school are likely to remain so.

Moreover, describing pictures in the book, explaining the meaning of the story, encouraging kids to talk about what has been read to them and to ask questions can improve their understanding of the world and their social skills.

The review also showed that middle class parents were more likely to read to their children than poorer families.

The authors said that it's not only reading aloud that would influence the children's early language and literacy development, the style of reading as well as the frequency also has an impact.

Middle class parents tend to use a more interactive style, making connections to the child's own experience or real world, explaining new words and the motivations of the characters, while working class parents tend to focus more on labelling and describing pictures.

These differences in reading styles can impact on children's development of language and literacy-related skills.

The Reach Out and Read programme in Boston has improved the language skills of children in low-income families by increasing the proportion of parents reading to their children. The programme provides books and advice to the parents about the importance of reading aloud.

The review is published online ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. (ANI)