A study was conducted to determine the attitudes and preferences of 38 intellectually gifted intermediate grade students toward their recreational reading habits. The students' parents also were surveyed to describe the children's reading readiness development. The results showed that the students preferred books over other materials, liked…

ONE OF THE PROBLEMS OF TEACHING READING TO CHILDREN WITH LOW MENTAL AGES, FOR EXAMPLE, OF FOUR TO FIVE, IS THAT MOST READING PROGRAMS ARE GEARED TO THE CHILDREN WITH A MENTAL AGE OF ABOUT SIX AND ONE-HALF. A CHILD WITH THIS HIGHER MENTAL DEVELOPMENT WILL OFTEN HAVE MANY OF THE BASIC READING SKILLS ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED, OR HE CAN LEARN THEM QUICKLY…

This discussion of methods, experiences, and theory provides educators and parents with an approach to learning to read that emphasizes learning to think and becoming a functional reader who can enjoy using this skill throughout life. Included are simple, inexpensive suggestions for improving reading, such as more attention to regular school…

This paper reviews the evolution and implementation of the "Sesame Street" curriculum relating to the development of language and prereading skills. The first section gives a brief history of the Children's Television Workshop, describes the operational model followed by the Workshop in carrying out its initial experiment, and suggests…

An individualized, nongraded Title III/ESEA reading program to be used with children at kindergarten through third-grade levels has been developed at Moreland School in Moreland, Idaho. Using team teaching and individual and small group instruction, the program seeks to develop in the child prereading experiences, language experiences, expanded…

Provides guidelines for using action (pop-up) books of rhymes and tales to help children develop prereading skills and a sense of story structure. (AEW)

Examines six major preconditions for literacy that are rooted in the home environment and discusses some of the implications of this home literacy environment for schools. (Author/PCB)

Offers teachers and parents practical suggestions for helping children to begin reading naturally. Looks at specific strategies for helping young children to learn to read, particularly a built-in success procedure emphasizing nonvisual aspects of reading. (RWB)

Discusses research that indicates the value of prereading and postreading in content area reading; explains the encoding specificity principle, which is the basis of methods that present similar cues during prereading and postreading. Describes several instructional applications of this principle. (GT)

A videotape training package to help mothers learn techniques of dialogic reading to preschool children as a way to accelerate language development was developed and tested with 64 children and their mothers. Dialogic reading affected the children's language development powerfully, and the taped training was an effective teaching method. (SLD)

Reviews more than three decades of empirical research pertaining to the hypothesized influence of parent-preschooler reading experiences on the development of language and literacy skills. Discusses implications of the findings for theory and research on literacy acquisition, for educational practice, and for parental guidance. (TJQ)

Argues there is reason for more optimism concerning the effects of reading to preschoolers than suggested by the Scarborough and Dobrich review in this issue (PS522390). Discusses methodological problems in many studies; cites studies indicating direct and indirect links between reading to preschoolers and reading achievement, suggesting that…

Comments on Scarborough and Dobrich review in this issue (PS522390), which found that parents' shared book reading with preschoolers accounts for only 8% of the variance on literacy outcome measures. Addresses the following three points: (1) the merits of further attention to shared book reading; (2) improvements in methodology; and (3) the…

Responds to commentaries (PS522392 and PS522391) on the Scarborough and Dobrich review on the efficacy of reading to preschool children in this issue (PS522390). Provides additional details regarding the computation of average effects and the comparison of effect sizes, and offers additional comments about the contribution of home literacy…

Examines the reading attainment levels of a group of elementary students who had either experienced nursery, day care, or no preschool provision outside the home. Compares pupils' scores on reading tests over four years. Although the results were inconclusive they suggest positive reading attainment outcomes related to preschool experience. (MJP)