With all of the cognitive/neuroscience research coming out over the past few decades, it is now commonly accepted that thought and language (not JUST language) are dynamically developing in a social environment from birth.
A foundational text is
“The Scientist in the Crib”... a wonderful read by
Dr. Gopnik, of UC Berkeley, my alma mater.
That is why I love this video clip from the Seattle area. Listen to a pre-K teacher discuss the use of Thinking Maps for literacy development beginning with phonemic awareness. Her students were having trouble distinguishing between the letters "n" and "m" ... and a Double Bubble Map is the immediately successful tool.
You may also find this link to a chapter I wrote a useful summary of how Thinking Maps® are used from early literacy up through college level for reading comprehension.
Research on reading comprehension is presented along with specific classroom examples developed by teachers to show how the basics of reading are facilitated along with higher order analysis of texts from across disciplines. (from my previous ASCD book "A Field Guide to Using Visual Tools")
