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Tender Shoots is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) for parents aimed at improving preschool children’s oral language skills relevant for later reading. Parents of 72 preschool children (M = 50 months) were randomly assigned to either a Rich Reading and Reminiscing (RRR) condition, a Strengthening Sound Sensitivity (SSS) condition, or an Activity-Based Control (ABC) condition. RRR and SSS conditions involved dyads conversing about the same 12 books over 6 weeks, with RRR focused on the meaning of the story in relation to children’s own experiences, and SSS focused on soundplay. Children’s oral narrative skills were assessed with a story listening comprehension and retelling task before and one-year post-intervention. At the 1-year follow-up, children in RRR retold stories with greater accuracy (g = 0.61) and quality (g = 0.68) than did children in the control condition. Tender Shoots RRR is a promising tool for parents to help their children’s narrative production (retelling) skills.

Parent–child interactive shared reading can benefit young children’s language and emergent literacy skills; however, studies of programs to enhance shared reading often do not evaluate lasting effects after the transition to primary school. In this randomized control study, 69 parents of 3.5–4.5-year-old children participated in one of three conditions for an evaluation of the 6-week Tender Shoots program: Rich Reading and Reminiscing (RRR), Strengthening Sound Sensitivity (SSS), or Activity-Based Control (ABC). Parents in both Tender Shoots conditions, SSS and RRR, were taught to read interactively with their children and were provided with books to support implementation. RRR targeted meaning-related talk likely to enhance vocabulary and comprehension, whereas SSS targeted sound-related talk to enhance phonological awareness. Children in ABC were provided with resources and materials for developmentally appropriate activities. Fifty-three dyads (77%) were followed after children started primary school and formal literacy instruction. Comparisons of shared reading interactions at follow-up indicated that parents and children in the RRR and SSS groups still used more condition-specific targeted talk than those in other groups. Most parents in shared reading groups reported that they continued to use project activities after children had started school, although parents in RRR reported more frequent use of program activities than the active control, ABC. Moreover, parents in RRR sometimes reported higher levels of some broad involvement dimensions. These findings suggest that shared reading programs as delivered here can have long-lasting effects on extratextual talk during shared reading and may enhance aspects of parents’ involvement with children’s education.

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