FOUR STUDIES CONDUCTED BY THE MOUNT VERNON PUBLIC SCHOOLS OVER A PERIOD OF FIVE SEMESTERS INVOLVED MACHINE-TEACHING READING TO 240 DISADVANTAGED PREKINDERGARTEN CHILDREN FROM THE CHILDREN'S CENTER AND THE CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER TO PREPARE THEM FOR MORE SUCCESSFUL KINDERGARTEN LEARNING THROUGH ACADEMICALLY-ORIENTED READINESS ACTIVITIES IN AN…

This book has been written to help parents, or any other nonprofessional reading teachers, teach preschoolers about reading. Part one discusses the psychological, philosophical, and historical aspects of home teaching. Part two presents the practical aspects of home teaching, specifically the things a parent can do to prepare a child to read and a…

Explores how children become oriented to literacy and how their perceptions of the purpose of print develop as they move toward becoming more fluent users of print. (DF)

Discusses factors that foster the development of young voluntary readers. Reviews studies that describe home and school characteristics that encourage voluntary reading and stresses the importance of providing young students with a rich literary environment in the classroom. (FL)

Argues that by encouraging children in their early writing efforts, adults can help them develop into confident and comfortable writers. (FL)

Study results do not demonstrate that early reading is made possible by precocity in speech-sound segmentation, blending, or discrimination ability, but that the complex skill involving the manipulation of sounds in temporal order may be more closely related to early reading ability. (AEA)

The development of four-year-old children's knowledge of letters and printed words was studied to determine if preschool children begin reading, and if so, how. A natural hierarchy of knowledge was noted. (MKM)

Discusses a study designed to determine whether early reading instruction constitutes a positive factor in the cognitive development of children. The subjects for this study were 25 children in a nursery school in Macerata, Italy. (CFM)

This research review concludes that precocious reading ability is a complex skill, and levels of specific subskills vary widely among individuals. Precocious reading ability is moderately associated with general intelligence and with academic achievement. Parents may encourage the early development of reading through natural and mutually enjoyable…

Examines the responses of preschoolers to a number of print design features in various genres of alphabet picture books. Discusses the authors' personal stance on the language learning and language teaching that occurs during these encounters with alphabet books. Ponders the published criteria presented by children's literature experts for…

A case study documented the emergence of literacy in an extremely precocious reader between the ages of 2 years, 7 months and 3 years, 2 months. The case study examined the relation between the subject's oral language and reading development; the bases of his word identification; the relation between his reading and writing development; and…

The Research and Development Center of the University of Georgia investigated the behavioral differences among advantaged and disadvantaged preschool children as part of an attempt to develop the most efficient way of assuring success at the first-grade level. A comparative study of a preschool stimulation program and the traditional kindergarten…

Analyzes two case studies of children who seem to have learned to read before enrolling in school. Examines common factors in their home environments, and suggests it is important for teachers to take into account the reading experience each child brings to school. (RS)

Reinforces the idea of the importance of home influences in early reading behavior. Reveals a significant positive correlation between the literary environment of the home and the "literacy set" of a child in a preschool setting. (FL)

A study examined the types of reading strategies emergent readers used as they read to make sense of the text. In addition to data obtained for the children's oral readings, a reading strategy classification scheme, Strategy Type Strategy Behavior (STSB), was employed to identify the types of strategies the children were using on this task.…