Describes and evaluates the Test of Awareness of Language Segments (TALS), discussing the test administration, scoring, interpretation, reliability, and validity. Recommends TALS for evaluating a child's readiness for reading instruction, and for suggesting appropriate instructional interventions. (MM)

Discusses whether to prepare the child for reading instruction, or tailor the reading instruction to the child. (RB)

Reviews "Happily Ever After," a reading readiness program that is designed to help those children who lack many of the concepts and abilities assumed by most readiness programs. (FL)

A method for introducing hearing impaired preschoolers to a core basal reading series is described. Steps begin with having students react to pictures of their own experiences and express the plots of stories in language. (CL)

"The Critical Word Factor," based on word recognition demands of texts, is a measure of text difficulty designed specifically for texts used by beginning readers. The measure is a function of the number of new, unique words per 100 running words of text that fall outside a designated curriculum. The authors investigated the validity of the…

Designed to explore new reading readiness predictors that are not found extensively in the more commonly used commercial group tests and to develop new indices to measure the level of reading readiness of beginning first graders, a study was undertaken involving 115 children. The factor of sex in reading readiness was also investigated. An…

Data collected during the standardization of the 1976 Metropolitan Readiness Tests (MRT) were examined to provide information on sex differences in prereading skills. The MRT are designed for administration either at the beginning of kindergarten or between kindergarten and first grade. Performance on the six subtests and the total test on both…

Notes that research supports the idea that children are confused about concepts related to beginning reading instruction. Reports on assessment instruments that are commercially available or can be devised by teachers. (FL)

An evaluation of kindergarten children's awareness of lexical units and of the relationship of this variable to prediction of beginning reading is presented. Eighty-four kindergarten children--47 boys and 37 girls--served as the subjects and were tested individually for their ability to identify word boundaries spoken in sentences. The study…

Describes a program designed to help parents aid their children in the development of reading readiness skills. (MKM)

Outlines the story of one first-grade student's successful struggle with learning to read. (MD)

The author explores the question, Would children learn to read as early as they learn to talk if we let them?'' (Author/SJ)

A series of tests measures the correct stage of mental maturity necessary for a child to learn to read and write. Purpose is to prevent children from being taught to read in nursery schools before they are ready. (JF)

A review of reading research supports the notion that providing opportunities for children to develop rich experiences prior to beginning reading is essential. Further, there are definite links between these experiences and the development of cognitive structures that provide the basics for comprehension. (HOD)