Helen K. Ezell

Enhancing Children’s Print and Word Awareness Through Home-Based Parent Intervention

This investigation examined the efficacy of a home-based book reading intervention program for enhancing parents’ use of print-referencing behaviors and for stimulating children’s early literacy sk...

Increasing the Print Focus of Adult-Child Shared Book Reading Through Observational Learning

An instructional strategy for increasing adults’ verbal and nonverbal references to print while reading to typically developing 4-year-old children was evaluated. Also investigated were the effects...

Word and print awareness in 4-year-old children:

Word and print awareness comprise key elements of young children’s emergent literacy development. There are currently few assessment instruments for examining preschool children’s skills in these areas. This article describes two informal measures that may be used to examine word and print awareness in preschool children. Results of administering these measures, referred to as the Preschool Word and Print Awareness assessment, to 30 typically developing preschool children are presented. This protocol as well as the developmental observations presented may be useful to early childhood educators and speech-language pathologists who wish to examine young children’s emergent literacy knowledge.

Enhancing the emergent literacy skills of pre-schoolers with communication disorders: a pilot investigation

The purpose of this pilot investigation was to examine the efficacy of a parent-child book-reading programme designed to enhance the early literacy skills of pre-schoolers with communication disorders. Four parents and their children completed a 5-week programme that included group parent training supplemented by individualized guided reading practice sessions for each day. Results indicated that programme participation positively influenced children’s concepts about print and that parents judged the programme to be beneficial to themselves and their children. These findings are discussed in terms of their relevance towards enhancing the early literacy skills of pre-schoolers with communication disorders.

Written Language Awareness in Preschool Children from Low-Income Households: A Descriptive Analysis.

This study examined written language awareness in preschool children from low-income households. A total of 38 preschool children (mean age = 53 months) participated. All children resided in households with incomes that fell at or below federal poverty guidelines; in addition, all children were currently enrolled in a Head Start program. A battery of six measures was individually administered to each child to examine skills in the following areas: print awareness, word awareness, graphic awareness, and metalinguistic awareness. Descriptive analyses of the childrens performance on the battery revealed significant gaps in knowledge across all four dimensions of written language awareness. The highest levels of performance were observed with respect to these childrens ability to attend to the visual details of letters. The lowest levels of performance were observed with respect to the childrens ability to identify contextualized print within illustrations (print recognition) and their understanding of the concept of word as it pertains to written language. This information may be useful for designing early literacy programs to support written language awareness in children from low-income households. Clinical implications are discussed.

A pilot investigation of parents’ questions about print and pictures to preschoolers with language delay

Twelve parents and their language-delayed children were videotaped during a shared storybook reading. Parents’ questions were coded as referencing print or pictures. Whereas questions about pictures were found to be numerous, questions about print were nearly nonexistent. Moreover, parents’ questions about pictures were found to correlate negatively with children’s expressive vocabulary skills.

Emergent Literacy Skills of Migrant Mexican American Preschoolers

This study describes the emergent literacy skills of 48 4-year-old migrant Mexican American preschoolers and the extent to which the home and Head Start literacy environments affected those skills. Childrens emergent literacy skills were assessed individually in their dominant language. Information about the amount of print available in the home and at the Head Start center and the frequency of reading with each child was collected from parents and teachers. Scores on the emergent literacy measures showed mixed performance overall. Results suggested that the home literacy environment had the greatest influence on childrens emergent literacy skills.

Communication Strategies for Increasing the Integration of Persons in Supported Employment: A Review

Integration of workers with severe disabilities is a critical outcome of supported employment. However, in practice, integration has been difficult to achieve. Few intervention strategies have been...

A Survey of Educators and Speech-Language Pathologists Regarding Figurative Language Instruction.

A national survey of educators and speech-language pathologists was conducted to determine current perceptions and practices regarding figurative language instruction. The overall survey response rate (N=806)was 69%. Results showed that the majority of respondents provided either formal or informal figurative language instruction to students; fourth grade teachers taught figurative language more often than third grade teachers, special educators, or speech-language pathologists; a variety of instructional methods and materials were used; and there exists a moderate to great need for more instructional materials in this area. The majority of respondents believed that understanding figurative language could benefit students both socially and academically, and that students in special education had more problems understanding and using these forms than regular education students. A discrepency was found between the perceived value of figurative language instruction for certain special education students and their perceived problems in this area.

What Educators Can Teach Speech-Language Pathologists About Effective Homework Practices

Speech-language pathologists frequently assign outside activities to children to enhance their skill development in target areas. The assignment of such activities is similar to the classroom teachers assignment of homework. This article presents findings of research on homework and translates these findings into recommended practices for speech-language pathologists.