Racial literacy as defined by Stevenson (2014) is an important cultural resistance strategy (e.g., positive coping strategy) for Black children and youth because it gives them the skills needed to survive in a racist society. Stevenson's work, along with the work of several of his colleagues, focuses on adolescents and those in middle childhood,…

Language, literacy, and social-emotional skills are important for successful participation in society. These skills develop through interaction with others and through explicit instruction. An important activity to contribute to the development of these skills in young children is shared storybook reading. For deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH)…

The goal of teaching children to read is not for them to learn a set of discrete decoding skills, it is to have the reader obtain meaning from the words on the printed page, to understand the message which the writer tried to convey when he wrote down the words. The goal is comprehension of the printed word. While children are taught multiple…

In this article, the author finds connection between courage and a place that, at first glance, might seem to many to be among the unlikeliest of places in which to find courage: the library. The author maintains that the library--public or, as applies more directly here, school-- is precisely and even profoundly the place. How so? In the books on…

Teaching for theme is one aspect of reading comprehension that is often elusive for both teachers and students. Specifically, teachers are challenged with elevating students' thinking from the plot level to a more abstract level when teaching for theme understanding. Students are challenged with transitioning between the story world and the real…

In Easy as 1, 2, 3, authors Katherine B. Green and Jacqueline P. Towson share an approach for integrating early math concepts and shared book reading to support positive outcomes for young children, including those with disabilities. The timing of this article is perfect, as it coincides with the availability of additional free and readily…

Much attention has been paid to storybook reading as a context for supporting preschoolers' emergent language and literacy. Inferential thinking is essential to listening comprehension and to reading comprehension. Understanding the story deeply and reasoning about events and characters are central to children's enjoyment and to comprehension…

The author explores the Names, Journeys, and Dreams project, in which culturally and linguistically diverse learners and their families engaged with picturebooks that inspired dialogic conversations, authentic writing, and family-school connections. The author provides four recommendations for incorporating picturebooks within the reading support…

Preschoolers can learn mathematics from opportunities throughout their day, such as through play and storybook readings (Clements & Sarama, 2007; Green et al., 2018; Hassinger-Das et al., 2018). In fact, the early years are an advantageous time to introduce children to formal mathematical operations, as preschoolers often have a spontaneous…

Telepractice offers speech-language pathologists (SLPs) increased flexibility to support language development, including emergent literacy in clients with complex communication needs. However, clinicians may feel uncertain how to pair books with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) over telepractice. Following an overview of…

Theory and research have demonstrated the importance of teacher scaffolding to facilitate effective classroom conversations during shared book reading. When teachers scaffold conversations, young students can develop language skills more quickly. The authors describe a scaffolding framework and findings from research on how open-ended questions…

Two early childhood researchers from a local public university, have been visiting Mrs. Ball's kindergarten classroom in a small, rural elementary school in the Midwest to read books and discuss characters' identities. In this article, the authors share stories of how they laid the foundation for these conversations and others like it through…

Purpose: This tutorial is designed for speech-language pathologists who supervise speech-language pathology assistants (SLP-As) and/ or paraeducators. SLP-As and paraeducators often support young children with disabilities within early childhood settings, but do not always have access to professional development to learn and/or enhance their skill…

Within our society's growing culture of "busyness," schools have an important counter role to play. One critical antidote to this epidemic of overload is to reorient reading instruction to cultivate intentionally present, mindful readers. In this article, the authors share five ways to foster immersive reading through daily classroom…

Delays in oral language development in early childhood can be an indicator for later reading disabilities and affect students' overall school success through high school. Fortunately, there are research-based approaches to help young students at risk for reading disabilities make long-term improvements in their vocabulary development skills. This…