Indicates that a relatively small percentage of the gifted preschool population actually starts to read before starting kindergarten. (Author)

When kindergarten, second-, and fourth-grade children judged and repeated sentences that varied grammatically, the older children produced more accurate judgments, but no age differences were noted for repetition. Unbiased judgment accuracy correlated with prereaders' reading readiness scores, providing evidence for the relationship between the…

Posits that alphabet books might be one connection between success in phonemic awareness tasks and high levels of alphabet knowledge. Gives three treatments to different groups of prekindergartners. Finds that all groups gained in print concept and letter knowledge, but the conventional alphabet group gained most in phoneme awareness. (PA)

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…

Examines (using a variety of measures for assessment) the development of print awareness in urban, Black preschool children of a wide age range enrolled in a day-care setting. Finds that Black children prior to kindergarten entry have begun to acquire some concepts about written language. (MM)

This study examined the effect of chronological age on kindergarten children's reading readiness skills. Specifically, we ask whether chronological age should be considered when making decisions about academic redshirting: the practice of delaying younger children's entrance into kindergarten. We were concerned particularly with reading readiness,…

To study the effect of nursery school attendance on reading readiness at the kindergarten level, a questionnaire was sent to the parents of 40 kindergarten students in order to determine which children had attended a nursery school program, when, and for how long. Scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills were then recorded for all respondents. The…

The project was designed to develop a multisensory, language-oriented curriculum to introduce the letters of the alphabet to six hearing impaired preschoolers. Every week a new letter is introduced via such tasks as art and cooking activities, snacks, beginning sound picture cards, yarn and lacing letters, sandpaper letters, alphabet string beads,…

Eleven kindergarten children, nine of whom had been identified at risk, were administered tasks involving word and sentence reading with and without pictures, writing of words and a sentence, print awareness, and book handling skills. Results suggested that children expect words to be a label for pictures, that articles and prepositions are not…

This bulletin presents four papers on how to control, manipulate, and predict the readability of printed materials. The first paper describes trends in readability brought about by research tools developed by psychologists and linguists. The second paper explores the effects of word frequency in printed materials on comprehension and concludes…

First-graders (identified as high-risk for reading difficulties) were taught to read examples of "environmental print" (words on candy wrappers, grocery bags, newspaper advertisements) and were able to identify and write words when logos and supporting detail were removed, indicating that activities using environmental print can…

Examines comprehension strategies experienced readers use to deal with very difficult text. (HOD)

Nineteen kindergarten children were pretested on readiness and blending tests and randomly assigned to a control or experimental group to determine if auditory blending skills were teachable and important in a beginning reading program. Following instruction in sequencing and blending sounds, the experimental group gained significantly in both…

A discrete-trial reaction time methodology was employed measuring speeds of skilled and less skilled readers in naming colors, pictures, numbers, letters, and words. Less skilled nondyslexic children don't exhibit a general name retrieval deficit; rather, research shows phonological analysis skills are integral in early reading acquisition.…

Reports on a study that examined patterns and interrelationships in the development of print awareness over the preschool years with results indicating that preschool children do not acquire such skills and concepts in a fixed order. (MKM)