The New York Times had a great article about food stamps a few days ago. I knew food stamp use was increasing. I may have even heard that it was at record highs. But I don’t think I realized that 1 in 4 children in the United States are now receiving food stamps. One in four. Wow.

One of the things the article stresses is that the stigma around food stamps has declined over the last few years and particularly in the last year, as more and more people are relying on food stamps after losing their jobs. Another thing that has helped is the move to plastic: Food stamps are now loaded onto little plastic cards (EBT cards), just like debit and credit cards, so their use isn’t as conspicuous. They even gave the program a snappier name—the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP for short).

Minnesota is exactly average in terms of participation: Nationally, 66% of those eligible for food stamps are participating in the program (data are from 2007—the most recent available) and the same percentage of eligible people participate in Minnesota. Looking specifically at the working population, there are an estimated 179,000 working people in Minnesota whose income is so low they are still eligible for food stamps. Of those, only 56% are participating in the program (also the same as the national rate). For more detail on participation rates, check out the USDA Report: Reaching Those in Need.

One of the cool things about the New York Times article is the accompanying interactive graphic, which shows participation rates down to the county level. Looking at the data for the nine-county Greater Twin Cities United Way service area, Ramsey County stands out: 12% of the population is on food stamps, including nearly one-quarter (23%) of children. Hennepin County comes next, with 9% overall and 16% of children. But some of the biggest changes are seen in the outer counties: Carver County has seen an increase of 82% in food stamp use since 2007, and Scott County has seen a 70% increase. Increases were substantial in Isanti (58%) and Chisago (54%) counties as well.

If you’ve hit hard times and are wondering if you or someone you know might be eligible for food stamps (or other financial assistance programs), go to Bridge to Benefits and fill out the screening tool—after answering just a few questions, they will tell you what benefits you may be eligible for and provide contact information and links to applications.

photo by Celestial Photography @ flickr

I have finally finished Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, by Maryanne Wolf. I have always loved to read (as far back as I can remember) and have a healthy respect for the reading brain, but this book reminded me just exactly how complex reading is.

That anyone can learn to read—it’s practically a miracle, there are so many developmental processes that have to come together. There’s phonological development (understanding the small units of sound that make up words). There’s orthographic development (learning that writing represents oral language, and then learning the features of letters, common letter patterns, and how to spell all these various words). There’s semantic and pragmatic development—learning about the meanings of words and often the multiple meanings of words. There’s syntactic development—learning all the grammatical forms as well as the rules of sentence structure and how events relate to each other in a text. And then there’s morphological development, which is learning the conventions around word formation: prefixes, suffixes and root words.

photo by McBeth @ flickr

Doesn’t it make you impressed with yourself that you learned to read at all? But it’s a long road to reading, starting with the “emerging pre-reader.” Think of Dad holding you on his lap while he reads you a story (or reads the newspaper, for that matter). According to Wolf:

The association between hearing written language and feeling loved provides the best foundation for this long process [of learning to read], and no cognitive scientist or educational researcher could have designed a better one. . . .The more children are spoken to, the more they will understand oral language. The more children are read to, the more they understand all the language around them, and the more developed their vocabulary becomes.

And that’s hugely important because children have to learn about 88,700 written words during their school years. At least 9,000 of these words need to be learned by the end of grade 3!

Wolf ends the book with two fascinating chapters on dyslexia. I learned a lot about how complex dyslexia is, as well as its gifts and challenges. Dyslexics often have remarkable spatial talents and many are able to read equally well upside down or in a mirror. The author’s son is dyslexic and she includes in the book a drawing he did of the Leaning Tower of Pisa—upside down! Many architects are dyslexic, and among the famed with dyslexia are Charles Schwab, the sculptor Rodin, Andy Warhol, Picasso, Danny Glover, Keira Knightley, Whoopi Goldberg, Johnny Depp, John Irving, Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein. An impressive bunch. As Wolf says:

It is in the highest interests of our society to protect the potential contributions of our children with dyslexia. . . .There is a necessity that we help them endure what is difficult and foster their resilience, so that they are prepared to invent the next lightbulb when they are ready.

I’ve recently started Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, by Maryanne Wolf (professor of child development at Tufts University). To understand the history and development of the reading brain, Wolf interweaves ancient and modern linguistics, archaeology, education, literature, history, psychology and neuroscience—a heady brew. 

It’s a little dense, so I’ll probably be reading it at least through the end of August. I only mention this because I have a feeling I’ll be blogging about this book a bit in the coming weeks. Dr. Wolf has an engaging writing style for an academic (I feel like I can say that having spent so many years in those hallowed halls), and with all those different disciplines—well, there’s something new to learn on practically every page.

First really interesting thing (p. 9): Did you know that when you read, and you read the word “bug,” for example, your brain activates not only the most common meaning for the word (crawly insect-type thing), but also the less common associations (Volkswagen, computer glitch, viral infection, annoy, listening device, etc.). I had no idea. Even when we’re reading a word in a context.  In fact, the brain “stimulates a veritable treasure trove of knowledge about that word and the many words related to it.”

That’s really important. The richness, the depth, the scope of this treasure trove—it depends on what you bring to the reading table.

“Children with a rich repertoire of words and their associations will experience any text or any conversation in ways that are substantively different from children who do not have the same stored words and concepts.”

One of the functions of the Research & Planning Department is to verify and source various facts and data points.

Photo by idrewuk

One “fact” that we get asked to source on a regular basis is that third grade reading scores are used in the state of (Virginia, California, Indiana—fill in the blank) to project how many prison beds will be needed in the future. What a compelling statement! It just begs to be repeated.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), it isn’t true.

It has an impressive pedigree:  Colin Powell has cited it, as has Hillary Clinton. The Washington Post and New York Times have both published opinion columns that reference it. A quick Google search of “third grade reading” and “prison beds” came up with 36,400 matches (and fewer than 4,000 matches if you add the word “bogus”).

We have contacted officials in both California and Virginia (the two most frequently cited states) and have come up empty. We have searched the web and scoured research articles. Plenty of references to the alleged fact, but not a single one of the purported sources pans out.

So it was with no small amount of relief that not too very long ago I ran across this article in the Washington Post debunking the claim.

If the Washington Post with its myriad resources, national and international, couldn’t track down a reliable source, I’m inclined to believe it doesn’t exist. If anyone out there knows otherwise, please let me (and the Washington Post) know.

I’m a reader. I love to read. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry; local, national, international; heavy, light, thick, thin—you name it, I read it. (Well, okay, I don’t read Regency Romances, but I do read graphic novels, so that sort of balances out.)

Photo By Rudy A. Girón

I was not an early reader. I wasn’t one of those kids that already knew how to read when I started kindergarten. But I do remember going to the library the summer after kindergarten and plopping myself down in front of the bookshelves filled with all the little-kid books and bringing home as many as I could carry. And I remember reading aloud at the dining room table while my mom ironed and helped me pronounce some of those crazy Dr. Seuss words.

My parents were very supportive of my reading. They let me buy endless books from the scholastic books catalog that we got in elementary school. I even remember some of the titles—Katie Kittenheart and Brighty of the Grand Canyon come to mind. (On the other hand, I also remember Mom telling me to go out and play with the other kids after I had spent two days straight sitting on the porch swing reading Lord of the Rings.)

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
– Dr. Seuss

He’s right. I went to college and then I went on to graduate school. I credit my love of learning to my love of reading. That’s why I’m so pleased that our United Way has a new goal area focused on helping kids read at grade level by grade three. We start earlier, of course, but grade three is critical because up until then, kids are still pretty much focused on learning to read. After third grade, that equation flips, and kids are reading to learn (although reading comprehension and vocabulary development continue to grow).

If you don’t know how to read by third grade, chances are you’ll fall further and further behind as you progress (or not) through school. But how do you get kids to read? Isn’t that the job of the schools? Well yes, it is, but families also play a critical role (see above). And the nonprofit sector can also pitch in and help. Through a variety of strategies, including sophisticated technology, one-on-one tutoring, and family involvement, we’re aiming to move the needle on reading. We even have a literacy project that works with kids in homeless shelters.

Here’s Meghan Barp, United Way’s Impact Manager working in the goal area of reading by third grade, to tell you a little bit more.