This article examines data from three educator preparation programs in one southern state prior to a new licensure policy requirement for elementary education teachers. Previously, the state required educator preparation programs to offer two 3-hour courses focused on early literacy and a total of fifteen hours in reading and/or language arts…

This study explores current reading profiles and concurrent and early predictors of reading in children with autism spectrum disorder. Before the age of 3 years, the study cohort underwent a neurodevelopmental assessment following identification in a population-based autism screening. At age 8 years, reading, language and cognition were assessed.…

This article proposes a model for design of early-grade reading programmes that is based on research and the implementation of research findings. The model has three components: (1) schools should provide instruction in a language their students speak and understand; (2) teachers should employ instruction that is consistent with the current…

Close Reading utilizes several strategies to help readers think more critically about a text. Close reading can be performed within the context of shared readings, read-alouds by the teacher, literature discussion groups, and guided reading groups. Students attempting to more closely read difficult texts may benefit from technologies and platforms…

This study examined the effects of an intervention with a multicomponent reading game on the development of reading skills in 60 Dutch primary school children with special educational needs. The game contains evidence-based reading exercises and is based on principles of applied gaming. Using a multiple baseline approach, we tested children's…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of using a researcher-developed iPad app with a 0- to 5-s constant time delay procedure to improve phonological awareness skills of young children with mild developmental delays in a small-group arrangement in a rural public elementary school in Southwest United States. The study was conducted using a…

Finnish ABC books present words with hyphens inserted at syllable boundaries. Syllabification by hyphens is abandoned in the 2nd grade for bisyllabic words, but continues for words with three or more syllables. The current eye movement study investigated how and to what extent syllable hyphens in bisyllabic ("kah-vi" "cof-fee")…

The contribution of morphological awareness to reading comprehension in Hebrew was studied in 298 second grade students who practiced two types of inflections, plural and possessive. Reading tasks at the beginning and end of the school year indicated that all improved on all tests in that period. Orthographic word recognition and morphological…

This article examines the debates around the teaching of early reading and explores the possible consequences of policy recommendations for teachers' knowledge and understanding of effective pedagogic practices. These include teachers' abilities to adapt patterns of talk (pedagogic discourses) to respond to individual needs and the aims of…

Environmental print is composed of words and contextual cues such as logos and pictures. The salience of the contextual cues may influence attention to words and thus the potential of environmental print in promoting early reading development. The present study explored this by presenting pre-readers (n = 20) and beginning readers (n = 16) with…

"Visual Perception is the mind's ability to interpret or give meaning to what is seen with the eyes" (WCED 2006). Grade Reception Phase (R) teachers, of five and six year-old learners, need to impart Visual Perceptual Skills (VPS) during visual training for pre-reading. These prereading activities in Grade R support early reading…

This paper presents a framework intended to link the following assessment development concepts into a systematic framework: evidence-centered design (ECD), scenario-based assessment (SBA), and assessment of, for, and as learning. The context within which we develop this framework is the English language arts (ELA) for K-12 students, though the…

Ensuring teacher and speech and language pathology graduates are prepared to work collaboratively together to meet the diverse language literacy learning needs of children is an important goal. This study investigated the efficacy of a 3-h inter-professional education program focused on explicit instruction in the language skills that underpin…

We review the value of cost-effectiveness analysis for evaluation and decision making with respect to educational programs and discuss its application to early reading interventions. We describe the conditions for a rigorous cost-effectiveness analysis and illustrate the challenges of applying the method in practice, providing examples of programs…

The aim of the present study was to empirically disentangle the interdependencies of the impact of nonverbal intelligence, working memory capacities, and phonological processing skills on early reading decoding and spelling within a latent variable approach. In a sample of 127 children, these cognitive preconditions were assessed before the onset…