The paper elaborates in detail aspects of the early stages of language and speech development in children, from the pre-veral to the verbal period. The importance of the environment and the intervention of adults in encoouraging language development is emphasized, as well as the impotance of emotional connection and communication between the child and the parents. In the elaboration of the pre-verbal phase of speech development, various changes in the child′s expression were higlighed and precisely these changes are indicators that the child is an active participant in the process of language acquisition from the birth. A review of the verbal period also highlights certain communication patterns that take place in a child from the first year of life which indicates the more complex nature of language development that also includes emotional aspects. The paprer emphasizes the importance of developing language skills in children before startig school, which are also key skills for successful communication, education and later professional life. Language activities are monitored; speech, which is considered a social phenomenon, reading skill which is essential for the whole life, listening which is considered a prerequisite for the development of other skills and writing as a productive activity. The importance of continuous support and encouragement of childeren in the development of speaking, reading and writing skills, so that they later become competent members of society capable of successful communication and expression, was emphasized. Furthermore, an overview of various aspects of reading with a child, from initial literacy to dialogic reading is presented. The paper follows the stages of initial literacy, the developmetn of writing skills, the language activity of reading, story telling and dialogic reading, clearly emphasizing that dialogic reading of stories and story telling to a child has a key role in the development of literacy, language skills and social interaction. The research was conducted through an initial vocabulary test that was conducted before and a ginal vocabulary test that was conducted after the dialogic reading of the stories. The results of the research show that the vast majority of children have adopted the words from the stories after dialogue reading and this shows us how important and useful reading to children really is.