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Preschool-age children identified as at risk for later reading difficulties can benefit from supplemental, small-group emergent literacy intervention. As such interventions become commercially available and marketed to preschool programs, it is important to understand their impacts when implemented by intended end users under routine conditions. In this study, we examined the effects of the Nemours BrightStart! (NBS!) intervention on children's emergent literacy skills when implemented by teachers and community aides in authentic preschool classrooms. We randomly assigned 98 classrooms to one of three conditions (NBS! teacher-implemented, NBS! community aide-implemented, or control). Children enrolled in these classrooms who met eligibility criteria and were identified as at risk via an early literacy screener ( n = 281) completed pretest and posttest emergent literacy assessments; those assigned to NBS! conditions received intervention from their classroom teacher or a community aide affiliated with a local kindergarten-readiness initiative. Intent-to-treat analyses showed no significant impacts of NBS! on any outcome, and an instrumental variable, as-treated approach showed one significant intervention effect on letter writing. Consequently, we did not replicate results of prior highly controlled efficacy trials. Findings have implications for revising the NBS! theory of change, conducting dosage and as-treated analyses, and moving research-based interventions toward scale-up.

The present study used a genetically-sensitive quantile regression approach to examine the relation between participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and subsequent school performance in literacy and numeracy at grades 3, 5, 7, and 9. The sample consisted of 1255 twin pairs (596 MZ; 659 DZ) with information on both ECEC and the National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) scores from the Twin Study of NAPLAN. Results indicated variation in heritability estimates across the distributions of achievement, suggesting that different patterns of etiological influences may exist among children of different ability levels. Additionally, the results provided no evidence that ECEC significantly influenced achievement, and in the genetically-sensitive analyses, no evidence that ECEC moderated the influences of heritability of achievement for typically advantaged children. These results suggest that ECEC may not provide the levels of environmental support for later achievement that advocates claim, although we acknowledge that ECEC quality, which was not measured in the current study, may make a difference in whether or not ECEC influences achievement.

This study examined implementation of an evidence-based home reading program by caregivers of children with language impairment. Caregivers received materials and supports to read with their children for 15 weeks, four times weekly; in total, 128 caregivers were enrolled. Survival analysis showed that 55% of caregivers completed the program, and the majority of dropouts did so early in the intervention. Mulitnominal logistic regression results showed that dropout was associated with household income, child literacy skills, and receipt of behavior-change techniques by caregivers, especially financial incentives (50 cents per book reading). Results may advance the science of implementation in the area of early childhood disability and could provide suggestions to improve caregivers' effectiveness in implementing interventions to their children.

Objective: In the United States, there are numerous ongoing efforts to remedy the Word Gap: massive differences in heard vocabulary for poor versus advantaged children during the first 5 years of life. One potentially important resource for vocabulary exposure is children's book reading sessions, which are more lexically diverse than standard caregiver-child conversations and have demonstrated significant correlational and causal influences on children's vocabulary development. Yet, nationally representative data suggest that around 25% of caregivers never read with their children., Method: This study uses data from 60 commonly read children's books to estimate the number of words that children are exposed to during book reading sessions. We estimated the total cumulative word exposure for children who are read to at varying frequencies corresponding to nationally representative benchmarks across the first 5 years of life., Results: Parents who read 1 picture book with their children every day provide their children with exposure to an estimated 78,000 words each a year. Cumulatively, over the 5 years before kindergarten entry, we estimate that children from literacy-rich homes hear a cumulative 1.4 million more words during storybook reading than children who are never read to., Conclusion: Home-based shared book reading represents an important resource for closing the Word Gap.

This study investigated the effects of four behavior-change techniques for caregivers implementing a 15-week literacy intervention with their children with language impairment. Techniques include modeling, encouragement, feedback, and rewards. Random assignment within a factorial experimental design was used to determine which behavior-change technique(s) each of the 128 caregivers would receive. Caregivers' adherence was assessed for frequency and dosage of intervention based on submission of logs and tape recordings. Children's print knowledge was assessed at pre- and posttest to assess literacy skills. Results showed that children whose caregivers were rewarded 50 cents per session to implement the intervention made significantly greater gains in print knowledge over the treatment period. Further, these effects were fully mediated by effects of the behavior-change technique on caregivers' adherence to the intervention.

Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) struggle with reading. An increased focus on emergent literacy skills-particularly print knowledge-might improve later reading outcomes. We analyzed longitudinal measures of print knowledge (i.e., alphabet knowledge and print-concept knowledge) for 35 preschoolers with ASD relative to a sample of 35 typically developing peers. Through multilevel growth curve analysis, we found that relative to their peers, children with ASD had comparable alphabet knowledge, lower print-concept knowledge, and acquired both skills at a similar rate. These findings suggest that children with ASD are unlikely to acquire print-concept knowledge commensurate to their peers without an increased emphasis on high-quality instruction that targets this skill.

Background: School readiness generally captures the notion that children do best when they arrive at formal schooling with a certain threshold of skill that will help them thrive in the classroom's academic and social milieu., Aims: To examine the dimensionality of the construct of school readiness among children with language impairment (LI), as well as the extent to which these dimensions relate to children's end-of-kindergarten literacy skills., Methods & Procedures: Participants were 136 preschool-aged children with LI. Children were assessed on measures of pre-literacy, social, and behavioural skills in preschool and reading and spelling in kindergarten., Outcomes & Results: Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that school readiness for this sample of children with LI is best characterized as two dimensions: pre-literacy and socio-emotional. Of the two dimensions, pre-literacy readiness was predictive of children's future performance in reading and spelling., Conclusions & Implications: The results further our theoretical understanding of the dimensions of school readiness, as well as our knowledge of how these skills are related among children with LI. Identifying domain-specific readiness skills that are predictive of kindergarten success can help to identify means of early assessment and targets for speech-language intervention., (© 2015 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.)

The purpose of this study was to empirically determine whether specific profiles characterize preschool-aged children with language impairment (LI) with respect to their early literacy skills (print awareness, name-writing ability, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge); the primary interest was to determine if one or more profiles suggested vulnerability for future reading problems. Participants were 218 children enrolled in early childhood special education classrooms, 95% of whom received speech-language services. Children were administered an assessment of early literacy skills in the fall of the academic year. Based on results of latent profile analysis, four distinct literacy profiles were identified, with the single largest profile (55% of children) representing children with generally poor literacy skills across all areas examined. Children in the two low-risk categories had higher oral language skills than those in the high-risk and moderate-risk profiles. Across three of the four early literacy measures, children with language as their primary disability had higher scores than those with LI concomitant with other disabilities. These findings indicate that there are specific profiles of early literacy skills among children with LI, with about one half of children exhibiting a profile indicating potential susceptibility for future reading problems., (© Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2013.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to determine the unique contributions in children's language and literacy gains, over 1 academic year, that are attributable to the individual speech-language pathologist (SLP) and (b) to explore possible child- and SLP-level factors that may further explain SLPs' contributions to children's language and literacy gains., Method: Participants were 288 kindergarten and 1st-grade children with language impairment who were currently receiving school-based language intervention from SLPs. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we partitioned the variance in children's gains in language (i.e., grammar, vocabulary) and literacy (i.e., word decoding) that could be attributed to their individual SLP., Results: Results revealed a significant contribution of individual SLPs to children's gains in grammar, vocabulary, and word decoding. Children's fall language scores and grade were significant predictors of SLPs' contributions, although no SLP-level predictors were significant., Conclusions: The present study makes a first step toward incorporating implementation science and suggests that, for children receiving school-based language intervention, variance in child language and literacy gains in an academic year is at least partially attributable to SLPs. Continued work in this area should examine the possible SLP-level characteristics that may further explicate the relative contributions of SLPs.

In this study, we identified child- and family-level characteristics most strongly associated with clinical identification of language disorder for preschool-aged children. We used machine learning to identify variables that best classified children receiving therapy for language disorder among a sample of 483 3- to 5-year-old children (54% affected). Using a dichotomous outcome based on receipt of language therapy, we applied the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) classification approach to a range of background data available on the children, including teacher and caregiver ratings of communication and social skills. The sample was randomly split into a training (67% of children) and test sample (33% of children) to examine out-of-sample classification accuracy. The full model had excellent classification accuracy based on area under the curve (AUC) of 0.87 and 0.85 on the training and test sets, respectively, when utilizing all available background data. Variables most strongly contributing to accurate classification of language-therapy receipt were cognitive impairment, age, gender, and teacher- and parent-reported communication, social, and literacy skills. Use of machine-learning approaches to classify children receiving language services in school settings may provide a valuable approach for identifying those factors that best differentiate children with and without language disorders from a clinical perspective.

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?= 0.21) 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?= 0.11) 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.

Intervention dosage is foundational to realizing intended impacts but is often variable, particularly when interventions are implemented under real-world conditions. In this study, we examined dosage of small-group emergent literacy intervention experienced by preschool children (n = 154) identified as at risk for later reading difficulties in authentic classroom settings. We documented considerable variability in dosage that was largely due to when instructors stopped offering lessons. Drawing from extant literature and an ecological orientation, we found that instructor factors (i.e., instructor self-efficacy for teaching language and literacy, instructor perception of lesson acceptability, average small-group size) and classroom factors (i.e., classroom teachers' self-efficacy for decision-making), but not child factors, significantly predicted children's intervention dosage. Moreover, most variance could be attributed to differences between small groups/instructors rather than individual differences among children. We discuss implications for preschool teachers, administrators, researchers, and intervention developers seeking to better support successful small-group intervention implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Preschoolers with language impairment (LI) are prime candidates for early-literacy interventions, given their susceptibility for future reading difficulties. To date, most studies of early-literacy interventions for this population has assessed short-term impacts, with limited attention to whether initial effects are sustained over time. This study was designed to evaluate longitudinal impacts of printfocused read-alouds implemented by early childhood special education teachers for a clinic sample of children with LI. Method: Assessment data available for 172 children with LI were analyzed to examine their print knowledge 1-year postintervention. Measures examined children’s alphabet knowledge, print concepts, and name-writing skills, which were used to derive a print-knowledge composite. Results: Results of hierarchical linear models examining children’s print knowledge at 1-year postintervention showed that the effect size (d = 0.20) favoring the treatment group was similar to that observed one year prior (d = 0.21) at the end of intervention, suggesting that results did not fade over time. Results also showed that children with LI and comorbid low nonverbal cognition benefited the most from the intervention delivered 1 year earlier. Conclusion: The maintenance of short-term effects to 1-year postintervention supports the value of early childhood teachers using print-focused read-alouds to improve the early-literacy skills of children with LI in their classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some studies have reported that young children with disabilities have qualitatively distinct home-literacy environments and interests than young children without disabilities. Such differences may contribute to differences in the early-literacy skills of children with and without disabilities. This study was designed to measure three distinct features of the home-literacy environment for children with and without disabilities (frequency of storybook reading, literacy teaching during book reading, children’s print interest; hereafter frequency, teaching, and interest) and determine the extent to which these may vary for the two groups of children. Parents of 692 preschool-aged children (57% with disabilities), all enrolled in inclusive early children special education classrooms, completed a comprehensive assessment of the home-literacy environment in fall of the academic year. Children’s teachers completed an assessment for each child on their early-literacy skills. The home-literacy environments of children with and without disabilities was distinguishable only for children’s interest; frequency and teaching were comparable. Importantly, children’s interest was positively associated, concurrently, with early-literacy skills. This study helps to pinpoint which aspect of the home-literacy environment distinguishes between children with and without disabilities. Findings also suggest the potential importance of identifying avenues to improve the print interest of young children with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many preschool language-focused interventions attempt to boost language and literacy skills in young children at risk in these areas of development, though the long-term effects of such interventions are not well-established. This study investigated kindergarten language and reading skills, specifically the subcomponents of vocabulary, decoding, and reading comprehension, for children exposed to the language-focused interventionLearning Language and Loving It(LLLI; Weitzman & Greenberg, 2002) during preschool. End of kindergarten skills were examined, comparing children whose teachers implemented LLLI (n = 25) or business-as-usual (BAU) instruction (n = 24). Hierarchical linear modeling results showed the LLLI intervention to have significant effects on children's decoding and reading comprehension in kindergarten for children who had high levels of language skill at preschool, as compared to their counterparts in the BAU condition. Study findings therefore indicate that preschool language-focused interventions may primarily benefit children with higher skill levels. This suggests the need to explore avenues for addressing the needs of children with relatively low language skills during preschool and the eventual transition to reading. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: This study presents an application of the theoretical domains framework (TDF; Michie et al., 2005), an integrative framework drawing on behavior-change theories, to speech-language pathology. Methods: A multistep procedure was used to identify barriers affecting caregivers' implementation of shared-reading interventions with their children with language impairment (LI). The authors examined caregiver-level data corresponding to implementation issues from two randomized controlled trials and mapped these to domains in the TDF as well as empirically validated behavior-change techniques. Results: Four barriers to implementation were identified as potentially affecting caregivers' implementation: time pressures, reading difficulties, discomfort with reading, and lack of awareness of benefits. These were mapped to 3 TDF domains: intentions, beliefs about capabilities, and skills. In turn, 4 behavior-change techniques were identified as potential vehicles for affecting these domains: reward, feedback, model, and encourage. An ongoing study is described that is determining the effects of these techniques for improving caregivers' implementation of a shared-reading intervention. Conclusions: A description of the steps to identifying barriers to implementation, in conjunction with an ongoing experiment that will explicitly determine whether behavior-change techniques affect these barriers, provides a model for how implementation science can be used to identify and overcome implementation barriers in the treatment of communication disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined the association between frequency of storybook reading and emergent literacy in 212 children at risk for language impairment, assessed during the fall semester of kindergarten. Measures included parent-reported storybook reading, as well as direct assessments of print knowledge, letter awareness, and expressive vocabulary. Results suggested nonsignificant to moderate (r = .11 to .25) correlations between frequency of storybook reading and child emergent literacy across the entire range of environment and ability. Quantile regression results suggested that the association was highest at low frequency of storybook reading, particularly for print knowledge, approaching r = .50. Moreover, the association between frequency of storybook reading and emergent literacy was highest at higher levels of emergent literacy for print knowledge, but particularly for letter naming, approaching r = .80. These results suggest that in children with language difficulties, the relationship between aspects of the home environment and emergent literacy is conditional on the quality of the home environment as well as the child’s proficiency in emergent literacy skills. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of the current study was to characterize and compare the emergent-literacy skills, print interest, and home-literacy environment of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to their peers, as well as to examine the association between children’s emergent-literacy skills and their home-literacy environment. Results indicated that children with ASD had significantly higher alphabet knowledge and significantly lower print-concept knowledge when controlling for language ability compared with their peers. Children with ASD also had significantly lower print interest than their typical peers. Moreover, print interest and frequency of storybook reading were related to children’s alphabet knowledge. Clinical implications and areas for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: The present study provides a data-driven approach to identifying groups of schools based on the concentration of at-risk students the school serves. The percentage of English language learners, minority students, and students eligible for free or reduced priced lunch were used as indicators in a latent profile analysis of 569 schools. The goal of the present study was to determine whether school-level average student reading performance varied as a function of the groups identified in the latent profile analysis. To do so, groups extracted by the latent profile analysis were used as school-level predictors of growth in oral reading fluency, which was modeled at the within-student level of a three-level hierarchical growth curve model. Oral reading fluency was measured at four points during the year in a large cross-sectional sample of first-, second-, and third-grade students. Results indicated that schools were able to be classified into four distinct groups based on their concentrations and types of at-risk students. Further, in all three grades, there were significant differences between the four identified groups observed in average reading fluency scores at the beginning of the year, the end of the year, and growth during the year indicating that groups based on school-concentration of at-risk students were significantly related to average student achievement in reading ability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A growing body of evidence indicates that the development of mathematics and literacy skills is highly related. The importance of literacy skills--specifically language--for mathematics development has been well rationalized. However, despite several prominent studies indicating that mathematics skills are highly predictive of literacy development, the reason for this relation is not well understood. The purpose of this study was to identify how and why early mathematics is predictive of early literacy development. Participants included 125 preschool children 3-5 years old (M = 4 years 3 months). Participants were assessed on mathematics, literacy, and cognitive measures in both the fall and spring of their preschool year. Mediation analyses indicated that the relation between early mathematics and literacy skills is mediated by children's mathematical language skills. These findings suggest that, in prior research identifying mathematical performance as a significant predictor of later literacy skills, mathematical performance may have acted only as a proxy measure for more complex language skills such as those assessed on a mathematical language measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study utilizes a comprehensive writing assessment to capture name, letter, word, and story writing. • Children identified as at-risk for later literacy scored significantly lower than their peers across writing tasks. • At risk children used drawing and scribbling whereas peers used letter-like formations or actual letters in their writing. • Screeners focused on early literacy tasks may also help to identify children likely to struggle with writing. Examining children's early writing skills, particularly for those who have been identified as at-risk for later literacy difficulties, is critical to understanding potential differences in the early writing of these children compared to typically developing peers. Yet, we have an unclear understanding of the writing skills of young children at-risk for literacy difficulties. In this study, we comprehensively assessed the early writing skills of 3- to 5.5-year old children (n = 128) to characterize the writing of young children identified as at-risk for later literacy difficulties and to compare the early writing skills of these children to their non-at risk peers. Results indicated that children who are considered at-risk for later literacy difficulties lag behind their peers in a range of early writing skills, including name writing, letter writing, invented spelling, and story composition in preschool. Findings also suggest that early literacy screeners may identify children experiencing writing difficulties in addition to early reading challenges. Given the burgeoning ability of preschool-aged children, practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated how multiple types of knowledge and beliefs, along with holding an early childhood-related degree and teaching experience, were linked to amounts of early childhood educators' language and literacy instruction. Quantile regression was used to estimate associations between these variables along a continuum of language and literacy instruction for 222 early childhood educators. In general, low levels of language- and literacy-related instruction were observed; however, the use of quantile regression afforded unique insight into the associations of knowledge, beliefs, education, and teaching experience with instruction when levels of instruction were sufficient. These findings would not have been visible with traditional, linear regression models. Specifically, two types of knowledge were examined: disciplinary-related content knowledge about the structure of language and knowledge for use in teaching language and literacy to young children. Only educators' disciplinary content knowledge was associated with amount of instruction. Associations between beliefs about language and literacy instruction and amount of instruction were less consistent. Generally, holding an early childhood related degree was positively associated with language and literacy instruction whereas teaching experience was negatively associated with the amount of instruction. Implications for studying educators and understanding the associations among educator characteristics and instruction are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Approximately 35% of therapy sessions did not include a focus on code-based literacy. [•] Average therapy time spent on code-based literacy skills was 1.8min. [•] SLP-level factors predicted time spent on code-based literacy skills. [•] Children in longer therapy sessions had more literacy-focused instruction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]