Conceptual models of early writing suggest multiple component skills support children's early writing development. Although research interest in early writing skills has grown in recent years, the majority of studies focus narrowly on procedural knowledge or transcription skills (i.e., handwriting and spelling) to the relative exclusion of how…

Children's early knowledge and skills set the stage for later reading development. The present studies examined children's conceptual knowledge of reading prior to formal literacy instruction. Young children's knowledge about who is able to read books and what readers are reading when they read books has been studied primarily through interviews.…

One of the aims for compulsory education is to diminish or alleviate differences in children's skills existing prior to school entry. However, a growing gender gap in reading development has increasingly been documented. Regrettably, there is scant evidence on whether differences between genders (favouring girls) have their roots in pre-reading…

Genetic and environmental influences on prereading skills in preschool and on early reading and spelling development at the end of kindergarten were compared among samples of identical and fraternal twins from the U.S. (Colorado), Australia, and Scandinavia. Mean comparisons revealed significantly lower preschool print knowledge in Scandinavia,…

Numerous studies have examined the etiology of the association between reading difficulties and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in school-age children, but little is known about the relation between prereading skills and ADHD behaviors prior to the beginning of formal reading instruction. A population-based sample of 809 pairs of…

Examines the extent to which preschool children are aware of and acquire the phonemic structure of the spoken word. Tests 4-year-old nonreaders, assessing product name reading ability, knowledge of the alphabet, rhyme skills, and explicit phonemic awareness ability. Finds subjects acquired knowledge of the alphabet before they showed explicit…