Attendance in U.S. preschools has risen substantially in recent decades, but gaps in enrollment between children from advantaged and disadvantaged families remain. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999, we analyze the effect of participation in child care and early education on children's school…

Research has shown that adult-child shared book reading can enhance language and literacy development in the early years, although little is known about how mothers and children from socio-economically disadvantaged communities interact around books. This study investigated the shared reading interactions of three mother-child dyads living in such…

Parenting a gifted child may not be what Mom and Dad expected when they read parenting books and first saw that innocent infant face. A gifted child is a joy and a challenge--rarely predictable, sometimes frustrating and annoying, but never boring. This article discusses the characteristics and vulnerabilities of the gifted. The author offers some…

A comparative investigation of word reading efficiency indicates that different strategies may be used by English and Swedish early readers. In a first study, 328 native English speakers from UK Years 3 and 6 completed a pen-and-paper word recognition task (the "Wordchains" test). Results were analysed for frequency and type of errors…

The study examined the validity of the Child Observation Record (COR). Participants were 242 children, a stratified, random sample of a large, urban Head Start program. Teachers trained to collect COR data provided assessments on the Cognitive, Social Engagement, and Coordinated Movement dimensions of the COR. Outcome data included cognitive and…

This study evaluated the validity, reliability, and utility of five of the six subtests of Clay's (2002) Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement (OS), including Letter Identification, Word Reading, Writing Vocabulary, Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words, and Text Reading. In addition to a review of studies providing assessment of the…

It is argued that attention to effective evidence-based early reading interventions are a co-requisite to genuinely inclusive education, with implications not only for reading acquisition, but also for a range of other social and academic domains. This paper briefly describes some of the recent developments in reading research that have the…

Special education legislation has placed an increased emphasis on early intervention programs for children at risk for early literacy delays and behavioral disorders. Given this trend, it is important to understand the characteristics of students identified and served in at-risk programs. This study presents the findings from a cluster analysis on…

Examines the purposes children believe illustrations serve in story books. Indicates, based on comments of 26 first graders who read a book and commented on the illustrations, that (1) advanced readers saw illustrations as distinct from text, (2) median readers saw a close relationship between pictures and text, and (3) beginning readers…

Describes the construction of a nonreading instrument (Preschool Reading Attitudes Scale) designed to assess attitudes toward reading in young children, aged three through five years. Demonstrates the scale to be valid and reliable with these age groups. (HOD)

Investigates the reading development of six preschool children who learned to read at home without systematic instruction. Attempts (1) to find out whether there was an identifiable process by which these children learned to read and (2) to study th role of the parents in these children's early reading acquisition. (HOD)

Explores how children become oriented to literacy and how their perceptions of the purpose of print develop as they move toward becoming more fluent users of print. (DF)

Investigates recall of toy preferences in the parents of 56 four-year-old children classified either as early readers or as nonreaders. Results indicated that early readers cannot be differentiated by IQ or family demographic information alone and that consistent toy preferences precede the acquisition of early reading skills. (Author/CI)

Discusses factors that foster the development of young voluntary readers. Reviews studies that describe home and school characteristics that encourage voluntary reading and stresses the importance of providing young students with a rich literary environment in the classroom. (FL)

Concludes that sound awareness scores significantly predicated performance of kindergarten children on a sight-word learning task and a decoding-like task. Subjects' knowledge of terminology was unrelated to success on either task. (FL)