Anne van Bysterveldt

Enhancing Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge in Preschool Children with Down Syndrome

This study investigated the effectiveness of a phonological awareness intervention for 4‐year‐old children with Down syndrome. Seven children with Down syndrome who attended an early intervention centre participated in the intervention. Their performance on measures of phonological awareness (initial phoneme identity), letter name and sound knowledge, and print concepts pre‐intervention and post‐intervention, was compared with that of a randomly selected group of age‐matched peers with typical development. The intervention involved print referencing techniques whereby the children’s parents were instructed to bring the children’s attention to targeted letters and sounds within words and to draw their attention to the initial phonemes in words during daily shared book reading activities. The intervention was presented for a 6‐week period. The results indicated a significant treatment effect on phonological awareness and letter knowledge for the children with Down syndrome. Additionally, above‐chance performance on the initial phoneme identity task was contingent on letter knowledge of the particular phoneme. Individual profiles of the children with Down syndrome pre‐intervention and post‐intervention are presented, and implications for the management of preschool children approaching the age of integration into mainstream primary schools are discussed.

The Emergent Literacy Skills of Four-Year-Old Children Receiving Free Kindergarten Early Childhood Education in New Zealand.

This study investigated the emergent literacy and language skills of four-year-old children in New Zealand during their kindergarten year prior to school-entry. A total of 92 four-year-old children from a range of socio-economic areas were seen individually at their local kindergarten and were assessed on code-related measures (letter name knowledge, initial phoneme awareness, emergent name writing) and meaning-related measures (story comprehension and retelling ability). Approximately, 60% of the parents completed a home literacy questionnaire. Regression analyses showed no effect for age on any of the code-related measures. In contrast, significant effects for age were found on story comprehension and retelling ability. There were no differences in performance based on gender with two exceptions: Girls performed better than boys on letter name knowledge and early name writing. Questionnaire results suggested literacy activities were valued in the home environment with most parents reporting reading to their child each night, and the majority of parents reported owning more than 60 children’s books. Results from the current study suggest more explicit teaching may be necessary within the kindergarten curriculum to facilitate the code-related skills linked to successful word recognition ability and early spelling development.

A Descriptive Study Examining Phonological Awareness and Literacy Development in Children with Down Syndrome

Objective and Method: This article describes the profiles of a cohort of 77 New Zealand children with Down syndrome (aged between 5 and 14 years) in areas of particular importance to reading development, namely phonological awareness, word level reading and letter knowledge. Assessment of reading accuracy and comprehension of connected text, as well as further phonological awareness knowledge, was measured in 25 of the more advanced readers in this cohort. Results: The findings showed the expected development with increasing age for letter knowledge, phoneme level awareness and reading tasks. Forty-two percent scored significantly above chance on a phoneme identity task, and most of the participants knew more letter names than letter sounds. Only 17% of the group scored above chance on a rhyme oddity task, and rhyme knowledge was not significantly correlated with age. The majority of the participants could read 1 or more words in isolation and 6.5% demonstrated word level reading at a 7- to 8-year level. Phoneme awareness and letter sound knowledge significantly contributed to word level reading performance. In-depth assessment for the more advanced readers suggested the participants had a comparative strength in reading accuracy compared to reading comprehension and found phonological awareness blending tasks easier than phonological segmentation tasks. Only 1 participant demonstrated strength on a rhyme generation task. Conclusion: Discussion focuses on the implications of better understanding the differing language profiles of children with Down syndrome for enhancement of their educational success.

Early Childhood Inclusion in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Early childhood education is encouraged for all 3- to 5-year-old children in New Zealand (known in the Māori language as Aotearoa) and is supported by a well-constructed bicultural curriculum (Te Whāriki) and reasonably generous government funding. However, a number of factors mitigate against inclusion of children with developmental delays and disabilities. These include a lack of training for early childhood teachers; no requirement for Early Childhood Centers to have policies of inclusion; funding and support arrangements based on age rather than developmental stage; a lack of sufficient specialist and paraprofessional support; and a strong sociocultural approach to early childhood education that is often at odds with the need for active support of child development. These barriers to inclusion are surprising, given the quality of the curriculum, the government-supported levels of oversight and quality assessment, and the strong rights-driven research tradition across the nations universities. The most pressing need is for significant changes to the preservice and in-service teacher education programs to ensure that the responsibility for inclusion is shouldered by the whole profession and the potential of Te Whāriki can be realized.

Parent-mediated interventions to promote communication and language development in children with Down syndrome aged between birth and six years

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To systematically assess the evidence for parent-mediated interventions aimed at improving communication and language development in children with Down syndrome aged between birth and six years. As a secondary aim, we will examine the effects of the treatment on parental behaviour and responsivity. We will also assess the effects of the treatment on the children’s non-verbal means of communicating and socialisation.

Children with Down Syndrome Sharing Past Personal Event Narratives with Their Teacher Aides: A Pilot Study

Abstract Personal narrative ability is crucial for social–emotional well-being and classroom participation. This study investigated the ability of 10 school-age participants with Down syndrome to share past personal experiences with their teacher aides in their school environment. To participate, children were required to speak in short sentences and be largely intelligible to unfamiliar listeners. Personal narratives were elicited using photo prompts, comprising a set of the child’s own photographs and a standard set of photographs and accompanying verbal prompts, utilising a clinical language sampling protocol. Personal narratives were analysed on quality, syntactic complexity, verbal fluency and intelligibility. Examiner behaviour was evaluated for measures of syntactic complexity, mean turn length in utterances and number of utterances. Results indicated significant difficulties in producing quality personal narratives in both photo conditions. Examiner behaviour was negatively correlated to the participants’ spoken language performance. Clinical implications are highlighted.

The Home Literacy Environment of Preschool-Age Children with Autism or Down Syndrome

Aims: This exploratory study investigated if there were differences in the home literacy environment of preschool children on the autism spectrum and preschool children with Down syndrome to determine if the home literacy environment may potentially be associated with strengths or weaknesses in children’s social communication skills. Methods: A total of 111 parents of preschoolers with identified disabilities completed a home literacy questionnaire. Results: Results indicated that both groups of parents started reading to their children at an early age and owned at least 25 children’s books. However, parents of children with Down syndrome read to their child more often, reported higher child interest in reading, and more frequently played rhyming games with their child. No group differences were found in teaching of letter names, although parents of children with autism reported a higher frequency of pointing out signs/words in the environment and reported their children knew more letter names. Group differences were also found in the relationship between parent behaviours, child interest, and children’s print-related skills. Conclusion: This study highlights the influence both parent behaviours and child interest may have on shared book reading practices of parents with their preschool children with disabilities.

A phonological awareness intervention case study of a child with Down syndrome

Abstract Children with Down syndrome face considerable challenges in developing spoken and written language which can have serious implications for their social, emotional, and academic success. Given the persistent nature of these challenges it is vital that interventions to support this development address both immediate and longer term intervention effects. A case study evaluation was used to describe the speech, phonological awareness, and literacy development of Ben (pseudonym), a boy with Down syndrome aged 5;2 at the start of the study. Ben was one of 10 pre-school children with Down syndrome who participated in an integrated phonological awareness intervention designed to simultaneously facilitate speech, phonological awareness, and early literacy skills. The intervention was conducted over 18 weeks. Bens speech and literacy development were monitored up to the age of 8;0 (34 months post pre-school intervention). The evaluation revealed continued speech development characterized by increased speech accuracy, an increased phonemic inventory, and the reduction of speech error patterns. Growth in letter knowledge and phonological awareness were apparent during the 34-month period and the generalization of these skills to early reading and writing was also evident. Early intervention which targets spoken and written language development for children with Down syndrome may be useful in supporting this development both immediately and in the longer term.