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…

The hereditary basis of dyslexia makes it possible to identify children at risk early on. Pre-reading children genetically at risk received during 14 weeks a home- and computer-based training in phonemic awareness and letter-sound relationships in the context of reading instruction. At posttest training effects were found for both phonemic…

This paper reports a videotaped self-observation of a 47 minute ESL reading lesson. The focus of the lesson was on intensive reading. The entire teaching session was videotaped; the videotaped data were analyzed using (a) ethnographic microanalysis, (b) selective verbatim transcripts, (c) Seating Chart Observation REcord (SCORE), (d)…

Suggestions are presented for parents on helping their children develop an interest in reading, including: talking frequently to children; helping children understand the importance of reading; reading aloud to children; reading "one-on-one"; involving children in writing; and choosing good books. (CB)

Describes and evaluates the Test of Awareness of Language Segments (TALS), discussing the test administration, scoring, interpretation, reliability, and validity. Recommends TALS for evaluating a child's readiness for reading instruction, and for suggesting appropriate instructional interventions. (MM)

Preschool children can learn to read in a way that is developmentally and culturally appropriate if they are presented with the necessary supports. Provocative activities, enrichment centers of excellence, and creating print-rich environments for young children are described. Includes a chart listing the critical elements of centers of…

Children (n=28) who were given books as babies and followed up at age 3 were compared to 29 who received no books. The treatment group had substantially greater participation in eight early literacy activities. Controls were more passive, less interested, and less able to sustain concentration. (SK)

Investigated the ability of children aged five, six, and seven years to categorize rhyming words. Children were better able to group words that shared rimes (speech units) than those with common syllable onsets. Results suggest that children who are not yet able to read are aware of single phonemes when they coincide with onset. (SAK)

The assessment of early literacy skills during the kindergarten year can provide useful information about student performance in prereading skills, which are predictors of later reading achievement. This study examined the use of fluency-based prompts of student phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, and oral reading at the end of kindergarten…

This article describes integrated reading, writing, and language behaviors characteristic of 18-month-old children. Two children, a boy and a girl, were given books to examine and the researcher simply observed their behavior. Books were selected from the children's own collections. The writing tasks were handled the same way. Paper and markers…

THE HYPOTHESIS TESTED WAS THAT WHEN PICTURES AND WORDS ARE PRESENTED TOGETHER, THE PICTURES MAY MISCUE AND DIVERT ATTENTION, AND THEREBY INTERFERE WITH THE ACQUISITION OF READING RESPONSES. IN EXPERIMENT 1, 30 RANDOMLY ASSIGNED PRE-FIRST GRADERS LEARNED TO READ FOUR WORDS WITH NO PICTURES, A SIMPLE PICTURE, OR A COMPLEX PICTURE PRESENT. DURING…

Exposing young children to written language helps prepare them for reading. (RB)

A review of reading research supports the notion that providing opportunities for children to develop rich experiences prior to beginning reading is essential. Further, there are definite links between these experiences and the development of cognitive structures that provide the basics for comprehension. (HOD)

Examined strategies used by 12 kindergarten nonreaders who tried to relate spoken words to segments of written sentences. Results suggest that children may first succeed in establishing correspondences between temporal order of spoken words and spatial order of written words when a sentence contains only one functor word. Results show the complex…