Designed for parents, this booklet provides parents with information about encouraging literacy in young children in the format of a children's book with illustrations from various works by noted children's illustrator Tomie dePaola. The booklet emphasizes the importance of reading to and with children, stressing that reading helps children learn…

The purpose of the 1990-91 Reading Recovery Program in the Columbus, Ohio public schools was to provide early intervention to underachieving first-grade pupils who appeared unlikely to read successfully without intensive instruction. The program featured individualized one-on-one lessons provided by specially trained teachers. The lessons were…

Undergraduate education students can often discuss the language experience approach intelligently, listing advantages and disadvantages with ease, but express bewilderment when it comes time in a reading practicum class to actually use the approach with a child. A teaching guide can serve as an aid to those students who have previously studied the…

The book summarizes the current state of knowledge concerning language development in children with Down Syndrome (DS). The first chapter reviews language development in normal children, noting such stages as gestures, first sounds, development of understanding, first spoken words, and the two-word stage. The next chapter examines language skills…

A three-part study examining the efficacy of a reading recovery program for learning disabled first grade students is described in this paper. An introduction outlines the Ohio Reading Recovery project and explains the purpose of the study. Part 1 describes the first phase of the study, in which 110 poor readers, including 35 learning disabled…

Four six-year-olds and their mothers were observed during the summer prior to starting first grade in a study designed to expand knowledge of the nature of verbal interactions during book reading. All of the children had some knowledge of letters and were making satisfactory progress in reading. The seven or eight observation sessions were taped…

The development of fluency in beginning readers is a gradual process that often involves different oral strategies such as word-by-word reading, pointing to words, and reading aloud to oneself. A review of research related to these behaviors and to corresponding spelling behaviors suggests a number of implications for instruction, including the…

The details of a 6-year investigation entitled the Education Testing Service (ETS) Collaborative Research Project on Reading, which brought researchers and educators together in classroom studies of young children learning to read, are presented in this book. The first four chapters of the book describe the theoretical rationale, design, and…

Written from a psycholinguistic perspective to assist teachers-in-training to prepare for reading instruction in grades one through eight, this book can clarify basic issues in reading as well as supplement current knowledge. The three major parts into which this book is divided examine reading in the "human context," the "teaching context," and…

In the 1920s and 1930s, interpretations of reading readiness held that learning to read occurred at a specific point in cognitive development. Postponement of reading instruction until a child reached this stage of maturity was widely accepted at that time, and throughout the 1940s and 1950s. The 1960s marked a transition period in terms of…

A review of the research on the effects of parental influence and parental involvement on children's reading achievement indicates that when parents take an active and positive part in their child's education the results often turn out well for the student. Parental influence is defined as any opinion, attitude, or action (other than direct…

Methods used to diagnose a seven-year old boy's reading problems illustrate the fact that reading assessments based upon a reader's strengths and a reader's understanding and control of the process will provide information which is more useful to teachers and parents than that provided by the numerical results of standardized tests. After Andrew,…

Children in modern literate cultures often begin learning to write and read before they begin school, and continue to use written language, and to develop writing and reading abilities, in nonschool settings even as they attend school. It is often the case as well that the writing and reading demands of school differ from those of nonschool…

A study examined preschool children's awareness of literacy. Subjects included 18 children from 2 classrooms of prekindergarten children who lived in a black, inner-city neighborhood and attended a school that believed in providing formal reading and writing instruction in the prekindergarten year. Subjects were asked how they were learning, how…

Seven reading readiness skills essential for young children's language development are presented in this curriculum guide. Following an introductory overview of the curriculum and its philosophy (including the aims, rationale, and objectives), the seven reading readiness skills are described. These skills are (1) auditory discrimination of sounds…