This study investigated the trajectories of preschool and first-grade childrens development of reading skills, as well as the cognitive and social antecedents of that development. One-hundred and ninety-six 5- to 6-year-old children were tested in October and April of their preschool year and again in the first grade. Data included measures of…

This study examined the feasibility of teaching phonemic manipulation skills (auditory rhyming, blending, or segmenting) to preschool children with disabilities. Forty-seven children, 4-6 years old, enrolled in a special education preschool, were randomly assigned to receive training in one of three categories of phonemic manipulation tasks…

This workbook provides practice in helping children acquire pre-reading skills. The activities within the workbook are presented in sequence of difficulty, and directions precede each activity. Since language development is an important part of reading readiness, some pages of the workbook require presenting the child with a series of questions or…

This report explains why reading story books to young children (an activity assumed to help in the acquisition of literacy, although there is no unambiguous evidence in support of this assumption) is likely to be important and reviews the evidence about the role it might play in literacy development. The first section of the report examines…

The Chapter 1 district program for Superior, Wisconsin, is described in terms of the following: (1) district information; (2) program and project information; (3) goals and objectives; (4) coordination with regular and special school programs; (5) parent and community involvement; (6) professional development and training; (7) leadership; (8)…

A study examined both the structure and the content of picture book interactions of 30 mothers with their 12-, 15-, or 18-month-old children. Interactions were videotaped in a laboratory playroom. Among the factors observed were the nature of the two partners' contributions as a function of the child's age, and the extent to which the mother gave…

The comprehension of written stories starts with learning to comprehend everyday situations, but it is the child's direct experiences with written stories that bring the process to fruition. These direct experiences with stories are generally of two types. Initially there is a storybook time, the occasions upon which a literate person, usually the…

Discussing findings from three studies, this report focuses on questions mothers ask their children while looking at picture books and recent family photographs. In the first study, 30 mothers and their 12-, 15-, and 18-month-old children "read" a simple ABC book that had one picture for each letter in the alphabet. In the second study,…

Detailed guidelines are provided for parent group trainers who conduct workshops on language and communication, pre-reading, and pre-writing for parents of young children. In addition, many handouts for parents are presented in the manual, including information on: ways to help infants, toddlers, and preschool children listen and talk, reading and…

A study was made of similarities and differences in parent-child interaction in two contexts: a book-reading activity and a home computer activity involving an alphabet program. A total of 20 children 3 years of age and their parents (10 children with mothers, 10 with fathers) were videotaped in two 12-minute sessions of each activity. A variety…

The experiences of one child's storytelling events over a period of nine months were tape recorded in a study that examined which variables were the most important in the child's learning of narrative. The variables considered took into account the impact of different storytellers, different story genres, different interactions (kinds of parental…

In the ninth season of the television program, "Sesame Street," new pre-reading and pre-science segments were introduced to the show. This report evaluates these segments with regard to young children's visual attention and comprehension. The intent of the evaluation was to assess the effectiveness not only of individual segments but…

Intended for teachers of preschool and kindergarten children, this manual is designed to share effective practices and products that have been either developed or refined by pre-elementary Right to Read programs. The first section of the manual discusses a variety of activities that focus on cognitive, language, personal/social, and motor…

The guide was developed as part of Project Prepare, a demonstration program designed to teach disadvantaged parents adult basic education skills and to show these parents how and what to teach their preschool children. It contains activities, advice, and resources for parents. All materials pertain to creative play for preschoolers that develop…

The purpose of this study was to compare the characteristics of kindergarten readers with those of children who entered kindergarten but could not read. One hundred thirty children were identified as readers and 130 children were randomly selected from each of the readiness and non-readiness groups in the Madison, Wisconsin public schools. A…