This book concerns the growth of a single child, as reported by her mother, from her first encounters with books and print to the beginnings of independent reading and writing. The study took place mainly between the child's third and fourth birthdays, during which period weekly tape recordings were made of story-reading sessions with one or both…

Disproves two assumptions about the development of written language by examining the spontaneous writing of a young child. Expounded primarily by James Britton and associates, the assumptions are (1) children's early writing is relatively undifferentiated in function, and (2) the primary starting point for young writers is writing stories. (HTH)

With practical applications for parents and teachers, this book uses diary entries, tape recordings, and videotapes made by the child's mother from a researcher's perspective to chronicle a child's reading and writing development from birth to age three. The introduction provides an overview of how children learn to talk, read, and write;…

Intended for parents of preschoolers, this book offers samples of children's "writing" (defined as the funny signs and symbols that pencils make) and attempts to show how parents can support and expand children's discovery of printed language before children begin school. Each of the eight chapters contains numerous examples of young…

A case study detailed the influence of a nine-year-old female sibling on the writing development of her younger brother, from the time he was 18 months old until he was 28 months old. General and significant interactions, such as the boy's oral language milestones and the books the children shared, were recorded in a journal by their mother.…

To determine how children develop schema for text that include increasing sensitivity to text types, text categories, orthographic conventions in words, conventional story beginnings and endings, and text cohesive ties, a study examined the writing of four kindergarten children. The kindergarten had adopted a process-conference approach to writing…