This article discusses the kinds of instructional activities that young children need to develop basic language and literacy skills based on recent research and program evaluations. This includes approaches to develop alphabetic understanding, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and oral language. Activities and materials from the Pre-kindergarten…

Although intensive early childhood interventions and high quality preschool programs have been shown to foster children's school readiness, little is known about the school readiness gains made by ethnically and linguistically diverse children in poverty receiving subsidies to attend center-based childcare or those in public school…

Providing unbiased data concerning the outcomes of particular intervention methods is imperative if professionals and parents are to assimilate information which could contribute to an "informed choice". An evaluation of Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) was conducted using a formal assessment of spoken language as an outcome measure. Spoken…

At the Punana Leo everyone, "'Anakala", uncle--a male teacher, "'Anake," aunty--a female teacher, and the "keiki," children all play important roles in the educational program of the school. Each and all are responsible for the learning that takes place and the success of the program. In this article, the author…

Drawing on data from eleven preschools in four European countries (Germany, Belgium, Sweden, and the UK), this edited volume explores the progress of preschool children learning English over a period of two years. This edited volume (Volume II) gives details on best practices in bilingual preschools as well as background and training on topics…

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), LitTECH Outreach was a 3-year technology-based preschool literacy project conducted by staff at the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood, a research and development division of the College of Education and Human Services at Western Illinois…

The authors show how teachers can use nature explorations as a personal guide in implementing early learning standards. They describe five outdoor experiences of children in age groups ranging from 20 months to 5 years. A chart specifies which of the Nebraska state learning guidelines and Creative Curriculum goals the experiences meet, across the…

This study describes the application of Bakhtin's theories of dialogism to nineteen 5-year-old preschool children's communication strategies and the ways children appropriate meaning in block play. The observed frequency of communication strategies used in three different naturally emerging social relationships--1) individuals, 2) dyads, and 3)…

Forty-four Head Start classrooms were randomly assigned to enriched intervention (Head Start REDI--Research-based, Developmentally Informed) or "usual practice" conditions. The intervention involved brief lessons, "hands-on" extension activities, and specific teaching strategies linked empirically with the promotion of: (a)…

There is a great need to identify instructional methods that effectively promote positive skill development in young children with developmental disabilities. This 2-year longitudinal study evaluated the practicality and effectiveness of two delivery models of providing Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) to children with developmental disabilities…

A collaborative team of faculty from The University of Akron (UA) in Akron, Ohio, and Kent State University (KSU) in Kent, Ohio, were awarded a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a specialty area in the graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) programs of UA and KSU that would train a total of 32 SLP students (trainees)…

The objective of this report is to review studies that report language and literacy outcomes associated with preschool curriculum-based interventions. Results from studies reporting on interventions targeting preschool children from low-income families were included regardless of the specific type of program. Although the majority of preschool…

When the presuppositional and performative abilities of 18 language disordered and 18 normal preschoolers were compared, both groups showed a tendency to encode changing rather than unchanging situational elements and demonstrated similar levels of imperative and declarative performative intent. Performative and presuppositional behaviors were…

The nutritional program used at the Pediatric Language Laboratory--a day care center for preschool children with language-learning disabilities is discussed. Some "do's" and "don'ts" regarding appropriate nutrition are presented. (Author)

Stressing pragmatics (the way a person uses language in psychosocial situations) in child language can help the teacher both in identifying what the child is ready to learn and providing appropriate instructional intervention. (DB)