Examines the concept of reading readiness and suggests classroom strategies for teaching it. (DD)

Offers guidelines in such areas as reading readiness, use of tests, organizational patterns, and the goals of reading instruction, as well as counseling principals on what they can do personally to improve a school's reading program. (IRT)

Describes several techniques that enable parents to prepare their preschool children for the actual process of learning how to read that they will encounter when they enter school. (FL)

Expresses a joint statement of concerns about present practices in pre-first grade reading instruction and makes recommendations for improvement. Guidelines and recommendations are the result of a collaboration among six national organizations. (KS)

Blind adults with language deficiencies often can learn enough braille to be able to use it for self-communication. Although the manuals of instruction commonly available are not adequate for everyone, individualized plans for teaching braille can be adapted to meet specific needs. Such plans should have a strong readiness program to teach proper…

The model delineates a structure for summarizing the dimensions of a developmentally oriented prereading program. The structure provides a guide for planning the curriculum so that parents and teachers can arrange experiences that will help children develop higher levels of representation and more complex language structures, and extend their…

Describes recommended procedures for assessing reading readiness and the teaching of beginning reading for three- and four-year-old children. (Author/MP)

A group of 30 nonreading kindergarten children who received 7 weeks of instruction in phoneme segmentation and letter names/sounds were assessed on segmentation and reading measures. They outperformed a language activities group, which received instruction in letter names/sounds and additional language activities, and a group receiving no…

Describes how to use wordless picture books to develop reading readiness and language competence. (MKM)

Because reading is a language-based skill and many communicatively handicapped youngsters experience difficulties with it, speech-language pathologists have important roles in assisting with reading development for these children. Suggestions are offered for use in speech-language sessions and with teachers or parents. (Author)

Presents a method of teaching children how to read using a constructive communicative technique. (MP)

Argues that teachers should apply the same techniques to teach expository writing in social studies textbooks as they do with teaching children's literature. Presents four activities that can be used in whole class and small group instruction. Provides examples and a 13-item bibliography of more information. (CFR)

This article briefly summarizes what is known about how phonological awareness fits into the beginning reading process and effective methods for teaching phonological awareness. Special difficulties with phonological awareness of children with learning disabilities or from culturally diverse backgrounds are noted. (DB)

Suggests a variation on the language experience approach designed for groups of nonverbal children. (MKM)

Teachers of extended day kindergarten classes and regular kindergarten classes are encouraged to help the poor risk child, who demonstrates the potential for having difficulty with the academics of first grade, by identifying the child's levels in reading readiness, developing the hows and whys of learning (teaching the child how to learn),…