Letter Knowledge, Phonological Processing, and Print Knowledge

Abstract

Development of reading skills was examined in 4-year-old children from low-income homes attending a prekindergarten program. Fall to spring gains in letter identification were examined and compared with skills in phonological processing, rhyme detection, and environmental print, and with performance on a screening tool (Get Ready to Read). It was anticipated that participants might show slow skill development. However, the identification of a large group of children (n = 30) who made little or no gains in letter identification compared to their classmates (n = 27), whose gains averaged 7 letters, was not anticipated. Fall to spring gains in letter identification correlated with phonological processing, rhyme detection, environmental print, and Get Ready to Read! scores. Age and general cognitive skills influenced performance on some tasks. More knowledge of the characteristics of children who show the most variations in skill development may lead to insights on using classroom curriculum to focus on skill development.

Programa de intervenção fonológica associado à correspondência grafema-fonema em escolares de risco para a dislexia

“…Este estudo enfatizou a identificação precoce da dislexia, levando em consideração que, na literatura (Gijsel, Bosman, & Verhoeven, 2006;Landry, Swank, Smith, Assel, & Gunnewig, 2006;Molfese et al 2006), há evidências de que as habilidades cognitivas e lingüísticas, quando trabalhadas precocemente com escolares de risco para a dislexia influenciam a aquisição do princípio alfabético do sistema de escrita. A falta de resposta do escolar à intervenção seria um critério de diagnóstico precoce para a dislexia (Agnew et al, 2004;Elbro & Petersen, 2004;Schneider et al, 2000).…”

Contextual effects on predicting risk for reading difficulties in first and second grade

“…There appears to be a developmental timetable to these predictors of reading success at the end of first grade: print concepts and letter names predict best in early kindergarten; phonological awareness and letter sound knowledge predict in kindergarten and early first grade; rapid naming of letters predicts at the end of kindergarten and early first grade; word recognition predicts well from first grade and beyond (e.g., Fletcher et al, 2002;Molfese et al, 2006;Scarborough, 2001;Torgesen, 2002). Item response work on the segmenting and blending tasks within the domain of phonological awareness reveals its own developmental sequence (Anthony, Lonigan, Driscoll, Phillips, & Burgess, 2003;Schatschneider, Francis, Foorman, Fletcher, & Mehta, 1999).…”

Development of Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge in Bosnian Preschool Children

“…Researchers also have reported a relation between letter knowledge and phonological skills prior to the onset of formal reading instruction Carroll, 2004), and between these skills in the preschool period and subsequent reading skills at school age (Molfese et al, 2006). When children have emerging knowledge about print, they are acquiring the ability to name letters and the knowledge that letters are associated with sounds (Landry, Swank, Smith, Assel, & Gunnewig, 2006).…”