Christopher J. Lonigan

Development of emergent literacy and early reading skills in preschool children: evidence from a latent-variable longitudinal study.

Although research has identified oral language, print knowledge, and phonological sensitivity as important emergent literacy skills for the development of reading, few studies have examined the relations between these aspects of emergent literacy or between these skills during preschool and during later reading. This study examined the joint and unique predictive significance of emergent literacy skills for both later emergent literacy skills and reading in two samples of preschoolers. Ninety-six children (mean age = 41 months, SD = 9.41) were followed from early to late preschool, and 97 children (mean age = 60 months, SD = 5.41) were followed from late preschool to kindergarten or first grade. Structural equation modeling revealed significant developmental continuity of these skills, particularly for letter knowledge and phonological sensitivity from late preschool to early grade school, both of which were the only unique predictors of decoding.

Relative Efficacy of Parent and Teacher Involvement in a Shared-Reading Intervention for Preschool Children from Low-Income Backgrounds.

Abstract The effects of an interactive shared-reading intervention were evaluated with 3-to 4-year-old children from low-income families who attended subsidized child care. The children entered the program with oral language skills that were significantly below age-level as measured by standardized tests. Children were pretested and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: (a) no treatment control, (b) a school condition in which children were read to by their teachers in small groups, (c) a home condition in which children were read to by their parents, and (d) a combined school plus home condition. Parents and teachers were trained in a specific form of interactive reading via an instructional videotape. The intervention was conducted for 6 weeks, after which children were posttested on standardized measures of oral language, and language samples were obtained during a shared-reading assessment. Significant effects of the reading intervention were obtained at posttest and were largest for children in conditions involving home reading.

Children Exposed to Disaster: I. Epidemiology of Post-Traumatic Symptoms and Symptom Profiles

OBJECTIVE To determine the range and severity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms exhibited by children after exposure to a natural disaster. METHOD Three months after Hurricane Hugo struck Berkeley County, South Carolina, 5,687 school-aged children were surveyed about their experiences and reactions related to the storm. Self-reports of PTSD symptoms were obtained by use of a PTSD Reaction Index. RESULTS Significant variation in the prevalence of PTSD symptoms was found across race, gender, and age groups. Self-reported symptoms were used to derive a post-traumatic stress syndrome classification according to DSM-III-R guidelines for the diagnosis of PTSD. More than 5% of the sample reported sufficient symptoms to be classified as exhibiting this post-traumatic stress syndrome. Females and younger children were more likely to receive this classification. At the symptom level, females reported more symptoms associated with emotional processing and emotional reaction to the trauma. Males were more likely to report symptoms related to cognitive and behavioral factors. Younger children were more likely to report symptoms overall. CONCLUSIONS Children exposed to a high magnitude natural disaster report sufficient symptoms to establish a DSM-III-R derived classification of a PTSD syndrome. Differences between gender, age, and race groups appear to be related to differential risk of exposure, reporting biases, as well as a differential risk for developing post-traumatic symptoms.

Development of Phonological Sensitivity in 2- to 5-Year-Old Children

This study examined phonological sensitivity in 238 children from middle- to upper-income families and 118 children from lower-income families across different levels of linguistic complexity. Children ranged in age from 2 to 5 years. Overall, the results indicated that as children increased in age, phonological sensitivity both increased in absolute terms and became more stable. Significant social class differences in growth of phonological sensitivity were also obtained. Phonological sensitivity at different levels of linguistic complexity (e.g., syllables, phonemes) was substantially interrelated at each age and predicted word reading ability in older children independently of language skills and letter knowledge. These results indicate that phonological sensitivity can be assessed in young preschool children and that lower levels of phonological sensitivity may serve as developmental precursors to higher levels of phonological sensitivity. The development of phonological processing is an important precursor to the acquisition of early reading skills (e.g., Adams, 1990; Wagner & Torgesen, 1987). Phonological processing refers to the use of phonological information (i.e., the sounds of ones language) in processing written and oral language. A growing body of research indicates that individual differences in one form of phonological processing, phonological sensitivity, are causally related to the normal acquisition of beginning reading (e.g., Bryant, MacLean, Bradley, & Crossland, 1990; Wagner & Torgesen, 1987; Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 1994). Children who are better at detecting and manipulating syllables, rhymes, or phonemes are quicker to learn to read, and this relation is present even after variability in reading skill due to factors such as IQ, receptive vocabulary, memory skills, and social class is partialed out (Bryant et al., 1990; Wagner & Torgesen, 1987; Wagner et al., 1994). The majority of evidence linking phonological sensitivity in prereaders with the development of reading has come from studies that have assessed childrens phonological sensitivity at the point of school entry but prior to formal reading instruction. For example, Share, Jorm, MacLean, and Mathews (1984) found that childrens phonological sensitivity, measured at the beginning of kindergarten with a phoneme segmentation task, was the single best predictor of

Children Exposed to Disaster: II. Risk Factors for the Development of Post-Traumatic Symptomatology

OBJECTIVE To examine the influence of subject and exposure variables on the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and syndrome in children exposed to disaster. METHOD Three months after Hurricane Hugo, 5,687 school-aged children were surveyed about their experiences and reactions to the hurricane. Self-reports of PTSD symptoms were obtained by use of a PTSD Reaction Index. RESULTS The presence of PTSD symptoms was strongly related to childrens reported severity of the hurricane, degree of home damage sustained, and continued displacement; however, childrens level of trait anxiety and their reported emotional reactivity during the hurricane were more strongly related to the presence of PTSD symptoms than were the exposure factors. Different sets of risk factors appeared to differentially influence the development of the three DSM-III-R PTSD symptom clusters. Little evidence for a differential effect of the risk factors between females and males and younger and older children was found. CONCLUSIONS Level of trait anxiety appears to be the single strongest risk for the development of severe post-traumatic reactions. The higher rate of post-traumatic symptoms in females and younger children in combination with the absence of differential reaction to the risk factors suggests that females and younger children are more likely to develop posttraumatic reactions following a disaster.

The Nature of Phonological Awareness: Converging Evidence From Four Studies of Preschool and Early Grade School Children

Significant controversy exists about the nature of phonological awareness, a causal variable in reading acquisition. In 4 studies that included 202 5- to 6-year-old children studied longitudinally for 3 years, 123 2- to 5-year-old children, 38 4-year-old children studied longitudinally for 2 years, and 826 4- to 7-year-old children, the authors examined the relation of sensitivity to rhyme with other forms of phonological awareness. Rhyme sensitivity was indistinguishable from phonemic awareness, segmental awareness, and global phonological sensitivity in younger children. Rhyme sensitivity was distinguishable, although highly correlated, with these phonological skills in older children. Rhyme sensitivity was highly predictive of these other phonological skills. Children’s sensitivity to different linguistic units seems best conceptualized as a single underlying ability.

Temperament, Anxiety, and the Processing of Threat-Relevant Stimuli.

This article discusses converging evidence from developmental, clinical, and cognitive psychology suggesting that there is significant overlap between research findings on affect, temperament, and attentional processes associated with pathological anxiety. We offer a proposal for the integration of these 3 areas aimed at developing a more clear understanding of the developmental sequence and operative mechanisms in the dysregulation of negative affect and the development of symptoms of anxiety pathology. We review evidence for a model indicating that reactive and effortful temperamental processes, possibly mediated by an attentional bias toward threat-relevant information, interact to produce problems of dysregulated negative affect and elevated levels of pathological anxiety. This model may assist in understanding the development of anxiety disorders, identifying children at risk for such disorders, and selecting points of entry for both preventative and curative interventions.

Phonological Sensitivity: A Quasi-Parallel Progression of Word Structure Units and Cognitive Operations.

This study investigated the order of acquisition of phonological sensitivity skills among preschool and kindergarten children. Phonological sensitivity was examined in terms of four levels of linguistic complexity (words, syllables, onsets and rimes, phonemes) across four levels of task complexity (blending detection, elision detection, blending, and elision). Participants were 947 two- to five-year-old children from diverse backgrounds. Hierarchical loglinear analyses evidenced a quasi-parallel pattern of development that corresponded to a hierarchical model of word structure and a working memory model of task complexity. Findings support a developmental conceptualization of phonological sensitivity. Findings are discussed in relation to their implications for improving assessment, early literacy instruction, and prevention of reading difficulties.

Children's reactions to a natural disaster: symptom severity and degree of exposure

Abstract Self-report data for 5,687 children ranging in age from 9 to 19 years were collected approximately three months after Hurricane Hugo devastated the rural community where the children lived. Information about the childrens perceptions of hurricane severity, degree of home damage suffered as a result of the hurricane, and hurricane-related parental job loss was used to categorize children into four levels of hurricane exposure. Reports of anxiety were obtained via the Revised Childrens Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS) and reports of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were obtained via the Reaction Index (RI). Significantly higher anxiety scores and significantly more PTSD symptomatology was found for children experiencing more or more severe exposure to the hurricane. Girls reported more anxiety and PTSD symptoms than boys, and black children were more likely than the white children to report PTSD symptomatology. Additionally, girls were more severely affected by increasing levels of hurricane exposure as indicated by their RI scores. These results indicate that, similar to adult and child victims of crime and adult victims of disaster, the development of PTSD symptoms in children exposed to a natural disaster is a function of the degree of exposure to the traumatic event. The results also suggest that childrens trait negative affectivity may moderate the effects of exposure on the development of PTSD symptoms.

Relations Among Emergent Literacy Skills, Behavior Problems, and Social Competence in Preschool Children From Low- and Middle-Income Backgrounds

Research has indicated a substantial overlap between reading disability (RD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, few studies concerning this overlap have been conducted with preschool children. This study examined the overlap between behaviors associated with ADHD and emergent literacy skills in preschool children. One group of 44 children (mean age = 48 months, SD = 11.3) was from middle-income families, and one group of 41 children (mean age = 53 months, SD = 8.1) attended Head Start. Results demonstrated that attention problems were substantially, consistently, and uniquely associated with emergent literacy skills in both groups; however, the effect was strongest for the middle-income group. These findings indicate that the association between reading skills and behaviors associated with ADHD is present in preschool children and that emergent literacy skills may mediate the link between ADHD and RD found in older children.