Dialogic Reading: Language and Preliteracy Outcomes for Young Children With Disabilities

Dialogic reading is an evidence-based practice for preschool children who are typically developing or at-risk; yet there is limited research to evaluate if it has similar positive effects on the language and preliteracy skills of children with disabilities. This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of dialogic reading, with the incorporation of pause time, on the language and preliteracy skills of 42 preschool children with disabilities. Following random assignment of students at the classroom level, participants were equally distributed into an intervention (n = 21) and a comparison group (n = 21). Children received either dialogic reading or typical storybook reading for 10 to 15 min per day, 3 days per week, for 6 weeks. Children in the intervention group scored significantly higher on receptive and expressive near-transfer vocabulary assessments. This occurred both for words that were specifically targeted during dialogic reading, and for additional vocabulary words in the storybook.