The principles and techniques useful in designing a phonological awareness training program for children at risk for reading disabilities are discussed. The paper asserts that speech-language pathologists have the training, clinical expertise, and opportunity to play an integral role in such programs. (Author/JDD)

Emergent literacy can be viewed as skills that are precursors to later reading and writing (Sulzby & Teale, 1991) or can be more broadly conceptualized as literacy acquisition that occurs along a developmental continuum. Because children with disabilities, such as visual impairments, can be at risk for later reading difficulties, it is critical…

Individual differences in measures of prereading skills and in questionnaire measures of 4-5-year-old twins' print environments in Australia, Scandinavia, and the United States were explored with a behavioral-genetic design. Modest phenotypic correlations were found between environmental measures and the twins' print knowledge, general verbal…

Grade retention has been the de facto policy for children with academic difficulties in many Latin American countries [Schiefelbein, E., & Wolff, L. (1992). "Repetition and inadequate achievement in Latin America's primary schools: a review of magnitudes, causes, relationships, and strategies." Washington, DC: World Bank.]. In Costa…

This research synthesis is organized around identification of instructional priorities for emergent literacy and existing evidence regarding curriculum design for those instructional priorities. First, areas of emerging evidence are identified and two major ideas are extracted: (1) children need to develop knowledge of and facility with multiple…

This study explored the extent and nature of the literacy artifacts, references, and events in the homes of three preschool children with Down Syndrome. Analyses were based on observations and tape recordings taken during home visits. Major conclusions included: (1) the homes of the preschoolers were print rich, and literacy references and events…

This study offered a means of evaluating the long-term effects of the Beginning with Books gift packet program on literacy experiences provided by the family, on the children's literacy and language abilities, and on the skills of the children involved in the program as perceived by their kindergarten teachers. The program is a nonprofit…

This practicum report describes an intervention to improve the literacy skills of seven at-risk kindergarten children. Intervention objectives were that children will: (1) show an increase in letter recognition; (2) demonstrate book awareness skills; and (3) increase their use of prereading and prewriting strategies. The intervention involved the…

The inclusion of talk, written language, and body language are critically important in primary classrooms. Although reading and writing may be regarded as cognitive activities, they are embedded in a social/cultural milieu, and the practice of mechanical decoding as a necessary precedent to real reading is not pedagogically sound. A whole class…

A study used the "Emergent Reading Ability Judgments for Favorite Storybooks" (ERAJFS) scale to provide an informative description of children's emergent reading behaviors during a school year. Subjects, children ranging in age from two and one half years to five years who were enrolled in a day care center classroom, took part in two…

A study investigated kindergarten children's awareness of how they are learning to read at home and in school. Fifty-six children were selected from two schools with contrasting instruction for beginning reading. Children were interviewed in kindergarten and first grade and asked questions designed to tap their awareness of how they were learning…

A longitudinal study examined the factors that facilitate or hinder Native American children's literacy acquisition. Subjects, 18 three-year-old children attending Headstart classes on the Lummi Reservation in northwest Washington, were observed during their daily hour of free play for an entire school year. The subjects' experiences with drawing,…

When used diagnostically at the readiness level, language-experience becomes an effective way to meet individual differences and to differentiate instruction in a group setting. For a 5- or 6-year old, school should be an exciting, happy, purposeful place, and language-experience lends itself well to such a setting. The first steps are to…

Based on the premise that reading and writing, like other aspects of development, have histories that reach back into infancy, this book for teachers and parents introduces a comprehensive understanding of literacy development for infants through preschool age children. A practical approach, it emphasizes age-appropriate methods, books, and…

This book is written for kindergarten teachers who are interested in acquainting children with reading, in developing skills in preparation for formal reading, and in guiding those who already can read or who wish to learn to read. Five chapters give the teacher a general structure and specific suggestions for helping children with reading:…