Why this is research-informed
From Shared Reading to Shared Experience
Decades of work on shared storybook reading and caregiver-child interaction point to a consistent idea: what matters most is not the object of attention, but the quality of the conversation around it. The Exceptionally You! family cards apply that idea to artwork.
Grounded in shared reading research
The Shared Experience and Everyday Literacy cards grow directly out of decades of research on shared storybook reading and caregiver-child interaction — including the shared reading work of Laura M. Justice and the dialogic reading tradition begun by Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst. Their research, and that of colleagues including David K. Dickinson, Catherine E. Snow, Susan B. Neuman, and Anne van Kleeck, shows that when adults and children talk together around a shared text — asking questions, connecting ideas, and building vocabulary — children build the language and comprehension skills that support later reading.
The Exceptionally You! cards bring those same well-studied conversational moves to a shared art experience: instead of a picture book, the artwork becomes the shared focus, and the conversation does the rest. The cards are the exhibit's own original design, created with love for the families who visit.
Shared storybook reading and shared art experience
The same interactional moves show up in both settings.
| Shared storybook reading | Shared art experience |
|---|---|
| Book provides shared focus | Artwork provides shared focus |
| Adult and child attend together | Adult and child observe together |
| Ask questions | Ask questions |
| Introduce vocabulary | Introduce precise art, emotion, and spatial vocabulary |
| Predict and infer | Interpret and infer from visual evidence |
| Retell and narrate | Create stories and explanations |
| Connect to prior knowledge | Connect art to life, knowledge, and experience |
| Adult expands child language | Adult expands child language |
The context changes. The interaction remains central.
Research roots
Explore the work of the researchers whose scholarship inspires these cards.
- Laura M. JusticeShared storybook reading and emergent literacy interventionsThe Ohio State University — Schoenbaum Family Center
- Grover J. “Russ” WhitehurstDialogic reading — the interactive read-aloud approach behind many of these promptsReading Rockets — “Dialogic Reading: An Effective Way to Read Aloud with Young Children”
- David K. DickinsonBook reading, vocabulary, and the power of rich classroom and home talkReading Hall of Fame — Vanderbilt University profile
- Catherine E. SnowLanguage and literacy development in childrenHarvard Graduate School of Education — faculty page
- Susan B. NeumanEarly literacy development and access to booksNYU Steinhardt — faculty page
- Anne van KleeckBook sharing and the preliteracy language it buildsUT Dallas Callier Center — “Researcher Calls Book Sharing Vital for Children”
For Educators & Researchers
- Conceptual focus
- Caregiver-mediated language and literacy talk during an inclusive art exhibition.
- Possible future research questions
- Which prompts are used most?
- Which prompts generate the most parent-child talk?
- How do prompt choices vary by age or grade band?
- What kinds of language do caregivers report observing?
- Data collection
- No research data is collected here. Formal research data collection should only occur under an approved research protocol and IRB review where applicable.
Back to the cards: Everyday Literacy