Diana Leyva

A Review of Parent Interventions for Preschool Children's Language and Emergent Literacy.

It is well known that children’s language development lays the foundation for their literacy development, though it is difficult for preschool teachers alone to consistently engage in the individual interactions necessary to boost children’s language skills. Given that parents are their children’s first teachers, it is imperative to consider how parents can help improve their children’s language and emergent literacy development prior to formal schooling. This article reviews parent-training studies of children’s language and literacy in three contexts: parent—child book-reading; parent—child conversations; and parent—child writing. Parent training in each of these contexts has the capacity to improve children’s language and literacy, with the effects being specific to the targeted skill. All three contexts are potentially valuable sites for training parents to help their children’s language and literacy. In conclusion, parents are an undertapped resource for improving children’s language and literacy.

Maternal Elaborative Reminiscing Increases Low-Income Children's Narrative Skills Relative to Dialogic Reading

Research Findings: This study compared the unique effects of training low-income mothers in dialogic reading versus elaborative reminiscing on childrens oral language and emergent literacy. Thirty-three low-income parents of 4-year-old children attending Head Start were randomly assigned to either dialogic reading, elaborative reminiscing, or a control condition. Parents in the intervention conditions were trained to implement specific and prescribed conversational techniques. Childrens vocabulary, narrative, and print skills were assessed at the beginning (pretest) and at the end (posttest) of the school year. Elaborative reminiscing boosted the quality of childrens narratives in comparison to dialogic reading. Elaborative reminiscing was also effective in supporting childrens story comprehension. These training effects were present regardless of the childrens ethnic background and whether they were bilingual. Practice: Training parents in elaborative reminiscing is a promising alternative to training in shared book reading for enhancing childrens narrative development in non-mainstream populations. Parent training programs in elaborative reminiscing may also complement dialogic reading programs that take place in preschool classrooms.

Teacher-Child Interactions in Chile and Their Associations With Prekindergarten Outcomes

Quality of teacher-child interactions is central to prekindergarten childrens learning. In the United States, the quality of teacher-child interactions is commonly assessed using the teaching through interactions conceptual framework and an associ/ated observational tool, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). This study examined: (a) whether there was evidence supporting three distinctive domains of teacher-child interactions in Chile (construct validity) and (b) whether these domains predicted end-of-prekindergarten language, academic, and executive function skills in Chile (predictive validity). The sample consisted of 91 Chilean prekindergarten classrooms (1,868 four-year-old children). The findings support both construct and predictive validity of the teaching through interactions conceptual framework as assessed by the CLASS in Chile. Implications for cross-country comparison of quality of teacher-child interactions in prekindergarten classrooms are discussed.

Early understanding of the functions of print: Parent–child interaction and preschoolers’ notating skills

Preschoolers’ ability to produce, read, and use written marks (notating skills) reflects an early understanding of the functions of print. The relation between preschoolers’ notating skills and parents’ level of assistance when notating, talk about the purpose of writing, and elaborative talk was examined. Sixty preschoolers played a grocery-list task, where they produced, decoded, and used notations for problem-solving. Then, parents and children played the grocery-list task together and discussed a past event. Children with better notating skills had parents who provided more assistance when notating and used more elaborative talk, but did not talk more about the purpose of writing. Findings suggest the role of parental talk styles and level of assistance in preschoolers’ understanding of the functions of print.

The Link Between Preschoolers’ Phonological Awareness and Mothers’ Book-Reading and Reminiscing Practices in Low-Income Families

The relation between preschoolers’ phonological awareness and the frequency and quality of parents’ book-reading and reminiscing practices were examined in 54 low-income and ethnically diverse families. Children’s phonological awareness was assessed at the beginning and end of preschool. Mothers reported the frequency with which they read books and reminisced with their children at the beginning of preschool using a questionnaire. They were also videotaped while reading a book and talking about a past event with their preschoolers. The quality of book-reading and reminiscing practices was measured via these videotapes by the number of open-ended questions mothers asked to extend the reading or conversation. Children’s receptive and expressive vocabulary skills were assessed at the beginning of preschool as a control variable. Quality of reminiscing, but not book-reading practices, predicted preschoolers’ phonological awareness skills at the end of preschool, even after controlling for beginning-of-preschool phonological and vocabulary skills and demographic variables. Reported frequency of book-reading and reminiscing practices bore no relation to phonological awareness skills. The link between quality of reminiscing practices and phonological awareness deserves further exploration, but might be explained by indirect links with other linguistic and cognitive skills.

Chilean Family Reminiscing About Emotions and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation Skills

Research Findings: This study examined the relation between Chilean parents’ narrative participatory styles (i.e., the way in which parents scaffold children’s participation in conversations) and children’s self-regulation skills. A total of 210 low-income Chilean parent–child dyads participated in the study. Dyads were videotaped talking about a past negative and a positive experience at the beginning of prekindergarten. Children’s self-regulation skills (attention and impulse control) were assessed using teacher ratings at the beginning of prekindergarten and at the end of kindergarten. Several parents adopted an elicitor style (i.e., asked a significant number of questions) in conversations about past negative and positive experiences. Parents’ elicitor style in conversations about negative but not positive experiences was predictive of gains in children’s self-regulation skills (attention and impulse control) at the end of kindergarten. Practice and Policy: The findings from this study suggest that parent–child narratives about emotional experiences might be a privileged context to develop children’s attention and impulse control—in particular conversations about past negative experiences. Intervention programs working with low-income Latin American parents may capitalize on these family practices to support children’s self-regulation skills and, in doing so, might help children better prepare for school.

Aftershocks of Chile’s Earthquake for an Ongoing, Large-Scale Experimental Evaluation

Evaluation designs for social programs are developed assuming minimal or no disruption from external shocks, such as natural disasters. This is because extremely rare shocks may not make it worthwhile to account for them in the design. Among extreme shocks is the 2010 Chile earthquake. Un Buen Comienzo (UBC), an ongoing early childhood program in Chile, was directly affected by the earthquake. This article discusses (a) the factors the UBC team considered for deciding whether to put on hold or continue implementation and data collection for this experimental study; and (b) how the team reached consensus on those decisions. A lesson learned is that the use of an experimental design for UBC insured that the evaluation’s internal validity was not compromised by the earthquake’s consequences, although cohort comparisons were compromised. Other lessons can be transferred to other contexts where external shocks affect an ongoing experimental or quasi-experimental impact evaluation.