A study gathered data on the effectiveness of four phonological awareness measures in predicting reading outcome in first grade. The "Test of Non-Verbal Intelligence" (TONI) and the "Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test" (PPVT) were used to assess the cognitive abilities of 54 first-graders from a middle class elementary school in a…

A study examined whether there were any differences in the concepts about print, writing vocabulary, and prereading performance of selected kindergarten children who were provided with (1) independent writing time and exposure to a writing model in the school environment, (2) independent writing time without the writing role model, and (3) neither…

Teachers of extended day kindergarten classes and regular kindergarten classes are encouraged to help the poor risk child, who demonstrates the potential for having difficulty with the academics of first grade, by identifying the child's levels in reading readiness, developing the hows and whys of learning (teaching the child how to learn),…

A new method of continuous stroke manuscript print called D'Nealian Manuscript is challenging the traditional circle-stick method of teaching children how to write. The circle-stick uses component or splinter parts to form whole letters. Children are forced to form all writing with verticle lines and to learn a manuscript print that goes nowhere.…

This paper examines the relationship between beginning reading and cognitive development and reviews some of the research conducted so far. It is noted that children learning to read may be in various stages of cognitive development, some at a preoperation stage, some at a concrete operation stage, and some at a transition stage. Instructional…

A functional prediction scheme was sought for use in kindergarten which would have good predictive power for future reading achievement and be easy and quick to administer and score, inexpensive, and conducive to classroom use. A group of 21 kindergarten children was tested for reading readiness, intelligence, and psycholinguistic ability. Their…

In order to make letter shape recognition an integral part of perception training, the use of the line in its two basic shapes is proposed. Letter shapes may seem exceedingly complex linear shapes to young minds. Thus instead of instruction in configuration, instruction involving transformational activities to manipulate and create the…

This study investigated the developmental relationships between a battery of cognitive tasks--including Piagetian operations of conservation, classification, and seriation--and early reading achievement. Subjects were 128 kindergarten through third-grade students at a suburban elementary school. They were administered a battery of cognitive tests…

This study presents an account of position saliency in terms of children's ability to utilize graphic information, and in particular the serial encoding of information from letters in a graphic pattern. By varying the number and position of the letters distinguishing graphic patterns (positive condition) in a short-term recognition memory (STRM)…

One of the twelve exemplary programs summarized in the Introduction to Right to Read's "Effective Reading Programs: Summaries of 222 Selected Programs" (CS001934), this program serves disadvantaged, inner-city preschool children who score at or below the twenty-fifth percentile on a preschool inventory. Children attend kindergarten for…

Reviewed are foreign and American studies on the relationship between school entrance age and reading readiness; and presented is the author's contention that children should be automatically admitted to kindergarten and first grade, with the school responsible for appropriate individualized instruction. (CL)

Research indicates that the Wallach and Wallach tutorial reading program for low-readiness first graders which emphasizes phoneme identification skills is effective. (MKM)

To aid in the early identification of potential learning disabled children, the predictive efficiency of three kindergarten measures (a reading readiness test, a reading achievement test, and a teacher rating scale) for 87 children was correlated with first grade achievement. (Author/CL)

Compares the ability of children at three different levels to use analogy in reading both real and nonsense words. Shows young children can successfully use analogy to decode new words. (HOD)

The software "Breakthrough to Literacy" was introduced in kindergarten classrooms in a suburban school district in 1999 and focuses on oral language development. Through observations, the author studied the effects the software had on individual children's oral language and pre-reading readiness skills. Along with reading skill development, oral…