Some children become capable readers and writers before ever attending school and without exposure to formal instruction. This phenomenon--sometimes referred to as natural literacy development--is not, in the strictest sense, natural; as the adult presents much of the literacy environment to the child in a socialized, mediated form, teaching is also involved. The implications for literacy development in early childhood are that a child is not given a preexisting literacy environment, but is actively involved in creating his or her literacy environment. The child's initiations, temperament, questions, and other actions or qualities actually affect the nature and frequency of literacy mediated activities occurring in the child's environment. To determine what role the child's environment plays on literacy development, future research should carefully document (1) what information is in the environment for the child to assimilate, (2) how finely tuned the environment is to the child's development, and (3) what strategies the child develops over time for dealing with written language. (HOD)