Joan N. Kaderavek

Using Shared Storybook Reading To Promote Emergent Literacy.

your phonological awareness? How does your alphabet knowledge differ from your metalinguistic awareness? If you are reading this article yourself, you know the answers to these questions (at least intuitively). And believe it or not, most 7-year-old children who are successful readers know the answers to these questions, too—if only subconsciously. Such awareness and knowledge came to them as their parents and caregivers cuddled them on their laps and read to them. We now use the term emergent literacy to define these skills and concepts (see box, “What Is Emergent Literacy?”); and special educators and other professionals—and parents—are urgently pursuing techniques for improving the reading skills of young children with disabilities (see box, “What Does the Literature Say?”). This article describes several techniques for structuring shared storybook reading interactions to best promote emergent literacy development for young children with disabilities. We present techniques for increasing the appeal and interactive nature of shared storybook reading and ways to promote children’s awareness of the literacy conventions naturally occurring within the shared storybook reading context. Increasing the Appeal and Interactive Nature of Storybook Reading When using storybook reading to promote emergent literacy knowledge in young children, we must ensure that children find the activity appealing and are highly engaged and actively involved in the book-reading experience. Some children, including a substantial proportion of children with disabilities, do not enjoy participating in bookreading activities (Kaderavek & Sulzby, 1998a). This occurs for several reasons, as follows: • Shared storybook reading is a language-based activity. For children exhibiting impaired language skills,

INTERACTIVE TO INDEPENDENT LITERACY: A MODEL FOR DESIGNING LITERACY GOALS FOR CHILDREN WITH ATYPICAL COMMUNICATION

Few models appropriately or adequately describe the literacy development experiences of children with atypical communication development, such as those with language impairment or severe disabilities. In this paper, the Interactive-to-Independent Model of literacy development is presented, influenced primarily by Vygotskys seminal theories of development through social engagement and interaction. The Interactive-to-Independent Model can be used by teachers and speech-language pathologists as a foundation for designing literacy goals and interventions for children with atypical and/or more severe levels of communication impairment. Two case studies are presented, outlining the literacy goals for a child with mild to moderate mental retardation and a child with autism.

The effect of book genre in the repeated readings of mothers and their children with language impairment: a pilot investigation

This pilot investigation compared the language use of mothers and their four children with language impairment during in-home readings of two storybook genres. Mother-child dyads repeatedly read two book genres, narrative-only and narrative + manipulative storybooks. The language output during the repeated readings was transcribed and analysed for utterance and discourse features. Mother language output did not vary across book genre, whereas the children demonstrated greater mean length of utterance and increased percentage of question use during the narrative + manipulative book interactions relative to narrative-only interactions. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Topic Control During Shared Storybook Reading Mothers and Their Children with Language Impairments

This study reports descriptive findings concerning the discourse patterns of shared reading interactions between mothers and their children with a language impairment. Specifically, control of discourse topic was studied for two book-reading interactions involving 11 dyads. Data were interpreted as showing that (a) mothers and their children shared the control of topic during book reading, (b) both mothers and children displayed balance in their control versus contingent topic contributions, (c) robust reciprocal associations were evident between maternal and child discourse control features, and (d) three observable patterns of topic control arrangements characterized individual dyads. Results of this work may contribute to the design of book-reading interventions for children at risk, and they suggest that it is important to consider the impact of such interventions upon topic control and contingency dynamics.

Peer Effects in Early Childhood Education Testing the Assumptions of Special-Education Inclusion

There has been a push in recent years for students with disabilities to be educated alongside their typically developing peers, a practice called inclusion. In this study, we sought to determine whether peer effects operate within early-childhood special-education (ECSE) classrooms in which preschoolers with disabilities are educated alongside typical peers. Peer effects specific to language growth were assessed for 670 preschoolers (mean age = 52 months) in 83 ECSE classrooms; 55% of the children had disabilities. We found that the average language skills of classmates, as assessed in the fall of the year, significantly predicted children’s language skills in the spring (after controlling for their relative skill level in the fall); in addition, there was a significant interactive effect of disability status (i.e., the presence or absence of a disability) and peers’ language skills. Peer effects were the least consequential for children without disabilities whose classmates had relatively strong language skills, and the most consequential for children with disabilities whose classmates had relatively poor language skills.

Print-Focused Read-Alouds in Early Childhood Special Education Programs

The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of print-focused read-alouds, implemented by early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers alone or in conjunction with caregivers, on the print knowledge of children with language impairment (LI). Using random assignment to conditions, children with LI were exposed, over an academic year of preschool, to one of three conditions specifying the way in which teachers and caregivers were to read storybooks with them. Based on a print-knowledge composite, children whose teachers used print-focused read-alouds had significantly better print knowledge (d = .21) in spring of the year compared to children whose teachers used their typical reading practices. When teachers and caregivers implemented print-focused read-alouds simultaneously, children’s Spring print knowledge was modestly higher (d = .11) than that of children whose teachers and parents used their typical reading practices, but the effect was not statistically significant. Examination of intervention moderators showed that children with lower levels of nonverbal cognition benefited substantially from exposure to the intervention. Educational implications are discussed.

Impact of Professional Development on Preschool Teachers' Print References during Shared Read Alouds: A Latent Growth Curve Analysis.

Abstract This large-scale, experimental study aimed to (a) describe the extent to which teachers of preschool children at risk for reading difficulties make references to print during whole-class, shared-book read alouds and (b) empirically test the extent to which participation in professional development influences teachers’ frequency of references to print during shared read alouds across the academic year. Eighty-five preschool teachers working in targeted-enrollment preschool programs were randomly assigned to receive professional development aimed at increasing their use of print referencing or to a comparison condition involving alternative training; all teachers implemented a shared read aloud program in their classrooms. Implementation was documented via twice-monthly videotaping of shared read aloud sessions. Videos were coded for the frequency of print references and analyzed using latent growth curves. Despite considerable variability in teachers’ use of print referencing, findings showed sustained, meaningful changes in teachers’ use of print referencing with results favoring those who experienced the experimental professional development. Implications concerning effective professional development for supporting preschool childrens emergent literacy skills are discussed.

School-Age Children's Self-Assessment of Oral Narrative Production

This study examined aspects of self-assessment, a metacognitive ability, and oral narrative production in 401 children between 5 and 12 years of age. Oral narrative production was evaluated through the administration of the Test of Narrative Language (TNL). Self-assessment of narrative performance was determined by asking children to self-evaluate their ability to “tell a good story” by pointing to one of five pictures from a “very happy face” (rating of 5) to a “very sad face” (rating of 1). Analysis of the data demonstrated that (a) older children (≥ 10 years of age) were more accurate than younger children in their ability to self-evaluate narrative performance; (b) there was a significant difference in narrative production skills between children who rated themselves as poor performers (self-rating of 1 or 2) and children who were high self-raters (≥ 3); (c) narrative self-evaluation varied in relation to gender, with males tending to more frequently overestimate their narrative ability; and (d) children with poor narrative ability were more likely to overestimate the quality of their narrative production than good narrators were. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

How Often and How Much?: Intensity of Print Referencing Intervention

This article describes the current state of evidence regarding treatment intensity of print referencing intervention. Although studies of print referencing intervention demonstrate overall net positive impacts for childrens emergent literacy development, researchers have yet to identify explicitly how often children should experience print referencing for these positive impacts to occur. Six print referencing intervention studies are identified in the literature and reviewed for differences in how often and how much print referencing intervention is delivered. Using the framework set out by S. F. Warren, M. E. Fey, and P. J. Yoder (2007), this article specifically discusses and compares variations in 5 treatment intensity variables (dose, dose form, dose frequency, total intervention duration, and cumulative intervention intensity) for the 6 studies of print referencing intervention. Effect-size estimates suggest a trend toward moderate effects of more intensive print referencing intervention and large effects for relatively less intensive print referencing intervention. This trend however is likely confounded by other contextual, individual, and treatment intensity factors. Therefore, suggestions for ongoing research exploring the differential effects of intensity of print referencing intervention are presented.

Quality of the Literacy Environment in Inclusive Early Childhood Special Education Classrooms.

The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of the literacy environment in inclusive early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms (N = 54). The first aim was to describe the quality of the literacy environment in terms of structure (i.e., book materials and print/writing materials) and instruction (i.e., instructional support). The second aim was to examine the interrelationships among teacher and classroom factors and the quality of the literacy environment. Results showed that, on average, the quality of the structural literacy environment was low to moderate, and the quality of the instructional literacy environment was generally low. Only one factor, the number of children who were dual-language learners, related to the quality of the structural literacy environment, whereas the quality of the instructional literacy environment was positively associated with two teacher-level factors (teacher education and self-efficacy) and negatively associated with one teacher-level factor (the number of language and literacy workshops attended). Study findings suggest the need to examine ways to improve the literacy environment of ECSE classrooms and to better understand sources of variance with respect to the literacy environment.