Stacy Benge is an early childhood speaker from Texas, who advocates for child-led play to build solid foundations for child development. In addition to a Master of Science degree in Human Development and Family Studies, Stacy spent 10 years in the early childhood classroom teaching children ages birth to five.
Stacy is the author of The Whole Child Alphabet: How Children Actually Develop Literacy published by Exchange Press.
Discover how natural conversations and child-led play are the foundation of strong reading skills in this enlightening discussion with Stacy. You’ll learn why phonemic awareness develops through everyday interactions rather than formal instruction, and how to create rich language environments that wire children’s brains for literacy success without worksheets or flashcards.
In this episode you’ll:
- Understand how an infant’s brain can hear any sound in the world – and why talking to babies in multiple languages from birth matters
- Learn why grocery store trips and puppet play are more powerful for phonemic awareness than 20 minutes of drilling sounds
- Discover the simple reason why digital devices are blocking children’s natural language development
- Find out how to document and defend play-based learning when administrators question your approach
- Explore why children asking “again, again!” for the same story is actually building crucial literacy foundations
Watch this episode to understand how authentic conversations and purposeful play create the solid phonemic awareness foundation every child needs for reading success.
Episode Links:
www.ExchangePress.com/abc (Link to book. At the bottom of this page is the link to the Kindle version)
https://www.instagram.com/stacybengems/ (IG account)
Get Stacy’s 5 Mistakes Early Childhood Professionals Make When Teaching Literacy (and How to Fix Them) guide here: https://www.stacybenge.com/5mistakes
Episode Content
Episode Includes
- 1 Video
