We try to work with parents who are reluctant to get involved in the activities due to lack of confidence. To get them involved, we invite them to practice various parts of the reading activities, which incorporate gestures. Over time, the parents feel more confident and comfortable and want to do more in the activities. A study by the University of Chicago showed that children who convey more meanings with gestures develop larger vocabularies than children who don't use gestures ("Differences in Early Gesture Explain SES Disparities in Child Vocabulary Size at School Entry" by Rowe and Goldwin-Meadow).