title: Increasing pre-kindergarten early literacy skills in children with developmental disabilities and delays.
abstract: Two hundred and nine children receiving early childhood special education services for developmental disabilities or delays who also had behavioral, social, or attentional difficulties were included in a study of an intervention to increase school readiness, including early literacy skills. Results showed that the intervention had a significant positive effect on children's literacy skills from baseline to the end of summer before the start of kindergarten (d=.14). The intervention also had significant indirect effects on teacher ratings of children's literacy skills during the fall of their kindergarten year (β=.09). Additionally, when scores were compared to standard benchmarks, a greater percentage of the children who received the intervention moved from being at risk for reading difficulties to having low risk. Overall, this study demonstrates that a school readiness intervention delivered prior to the start of kindergarten may help increase children's early literacy skills.
authors.affiliation: Oregon Social Learning Center, 10 Shelton McMurphey Blvd., Eugene, OR 97401, USA. Electronic address: katherinep@oslc.org.
authors.forename: Katherine C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Pears
authors.affiliation: Oregon Social Learning Center, 10 Shelton McMurphey Blvd., Eugene, OR 97401, USA; Yonsei University, Department of Child and Family Studies, College of Human Ecology, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-749, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: hyounk@oslc.org.
authors.forename: Hyoun K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: University of Oregon, Department of Psychology, 1227 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA. Electronic address: philf@uoregon.edu.
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Oregon Social Learning Center, 10 Shelton McMurphey Blvd., Eugene, OR 97401, USA. Electronic address: kareny@oslc.org.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoerger
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational / Q000379:methods*; D004519:Education, Special / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000067010:Literacy; D008297:Male; D012574:Schools
keywords: Developmental delays; Early literacy; Intervention; Randomized controlled trial; School readiness