Laura Bush hosts summit to start national dialog on preparing young children to learn.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Laura Bush today kicked off the White House Summit on Early Childhood Cognitive Development -- Ready to Read, Ready to Learn, featuring the research and recommendations of some of the nation's top early childhood learning specialists. Mrs. Bush was joined by her co-hosts, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson, and a group of more than 400 government, education, community, and philanthropic leaders from across the country who gathered at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. for the two-day summit meeting.

The summit was created by Mrs. Bush, a former teacher and school librarian, to highlight the early learning activities that parents and educators can use to prepare young children for school. Mrs. Bush hosted a similar conference in Texas in 1998. "We all have a duty to call attention to the science and seriousness of early childhood cognitive development," said Mrs. Bush. "The years from the crib to the classroom represent a period of intense language and cognitive growth. Armed with the right information, we can make sure every child learns to read and reads to learn."

"Together the White House and the departments of health and human services and education can raise public awareness of the value of early childhood development," Secretary Thompson said, "and Laura Bush is exactly the person we want and need to lead that charge for our children. We can have no more important national conversation than a the one about what parents and teachers can do to give all of our children a real chance for growth and learning."

The new assistant secretary of education for educational research and improvement was among the researchers to present information on proven methods for teaching our youngest children. Grover "Russ" Whitehurst, spoke to the summit audience about how poverty affects the children's acquisition of pre-reading skills, and explained proven methods for parents and adults to intervene in the lives of these children to improve their skills and prepare them to enter our school system.

Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Learning at the University of Washington, explained to the audience how babies begin to learn speech sounds in the first year of life. "The studies show that by one year of age," Kuhl said, "infants all over the world are sorting out which sounds their language uses, what sounds can be combined in their language, and the patterns of words used in that language."

Based upon her research and experience with federally-supported Head Start centers, Susan Landry, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Houston Health Science Center, described how parents and Head Start teachers can be taught intervention skills to help the young children in their care. "Children's cognitive development," Landry said, "can be supported in ways that are responsive to a broad range of other abilities including reasoning skills, social competence, and emotional health."

The summit will continue tomorrow with presentations by U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, child development expert Reid Lyon, new assistant secretary of education for elementary and secondary education Susan Neuman, and Mrs. Lynne Cheney.

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Speakers who addressed the first session of the summit are listed below in the order in which they appeared:

Margaret La Montagne, assistant to the president for domestic policy (moderator)
John J. DeGioia, president, Georgetown University
Mrs. Laura Bush
U.S. Rep. Anne M. Northup (R-Ky.)
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson
Grover Whitehurst, assistant secretary for educational research and improvement
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.)
Barry S. Zuckerman, Perri Klass and Elena Fuentes-Afflick -- Reach Out and Read
Patricia Kuhl, Co-Director, Center for Mind, Brain and Learning, University of Washington
Darion Griffin, assistant director, educational issues, American Federation of Teachers
Sarah M. Greene, chief executive officer, National Head Start Association
Susan H. Landry, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Texas at Houston
Blanca Enriquez, executive director, Regional Head Start, El Paso, Texas

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