Short- and long-term effects of training phonological awareness in kindergarten: evidence from two German studies

Lernstörungen: Ein unvermeidbares Schicksal?

Zusammenfassung. Etwa jedes dritte Kind in Deutschland leidet im Laufe der Grundschule unter besonderen Lernschwierigkeiten beim Erwerb von Lesen, Rechtschreiben und Rechnen. Mindestens jedes achte Grundschulkind erfüllt sogar die Kriterien der Weltgesundheitsorganisation für die Vergabe der Diagnose „Lernstörung“. In diesem Beitrag wird erläutert, was unter Lernstörungen im Einzelnen zu verstehen ist und was über die biogenetischen und sozialen (einschließlich didaktischen) Risiken für das Entstehen von Lernstörungen bekannt ist. Außerdem wird auf den Forschungsstand zu der Frage eingegangen, welche eingeschränkten kognitiven Funktionen mit einem hohen individuellen Risiko für das Entstehen einer Lernstörung einhergehen. Es folgt ein Überblick über den Forschungsstand zu (vorschulischen) Präventionsansätzen, die sich als wirksam zur Vermeidung von Lernstörungen erwiesen haben, und zur Frage, welche Interventionsansätze bei Auftreten besonderer Lernschwierigkeiten beim Erwerb von Schriftsprache und Mathematik in der Schule am ehesten geeignet sind, diese zu überwinden. Darauf aufbauend werden abschließend Vorschläge zu einer sequentiellen Strategie für die weitgehende Vermeidung von Lernstörungen und ihren negativen Langzeitfolgen unterbreitet und die Potenziale digitaler diagnosebasierter Förderprogramme diskutiert.

Phonemic Training Modulates Early Speech Processing in Pre-reading Children

Phonemic awareness and rudimentary grapheme knowledge concurrently develop in pre-school age. In a training study, we tried to disentangle the role of both precursor functions of reading for spoken word recognition. Two groups of children exercised with phonemic materials, but only one of both groups learnt corresponding letters to trained phonemes. A control group exercised finger-number associations (non-linguistic training). After the training, we tested how sensitive children were to prime-target variation in word onset priming. A group of young adults took part in the same experiment to provide data from experienced readers. While decision latencies to the targets suggested fine-grained spoken word processing in all groups, event-related potentials (ERPs) indicated that both phonemic training groups processed phonemic variation in more detail than the non-linguistic training group and young adults at early stages of speech processing. Our results indicate temporal plasticity of implicit speech processing in pre-school age as a function of explicit phonemic training.

The Role of Phonological, Auditory Sensory and Cognitive Skills on Word Reading Acquisition: A Cross-Linguistic Study

Despite considerable evidence regarding the influence of orthography on reading processing, the impact of orthographic depth on reading predictors remains unclear. In addition, it also remains unknown the role of the orthography in the influence of auditory temporal processing and attention skills on word reading skills. The current study investigates the word reading predictors in a group of British and Brazilian children with typical development considering phonological, auditory sensory, short-term memory, and sustained attention skills. Rhyme and Alliteration skills predicted word reading in both groups; however, the correlation in the British group was more robust. Short-term memory was also correlated with reading in both groups; however, it was a significant word reading predictor only in the British group. The auditory sensory was not directly correlated with word reading in either group; however, it was involved with Rhyme and Alliteration performance only in the British group. Those results were discussed considering the complexity of the phonological structure and opaque orthography in English when compared to Portuguese, which indicates that the less transparent the orthography, the higher the importance of factors such as phonological awareness, short-term memory, and to some extent, auditory sensory processing skills on word reading acquisition. Those results emphasize the need to consider orthography and phonological features of a particular language when developing a reading assessment and treatments.

Effects of an Early Literacy Intervention for Linguistically Diverse Children: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge underpin children’s early literacy acquisition. Promoting these foundational skills in kindergarten should therefore lead to a better response to formal literacy instruction once started. The present study evaluated a 12-week early literacy intervention for linguistically diverse children who are learning to read in German. The study was set in Luxembourg where kindergarten education is in Luxembourgish and children learn to read in German in Grade 1 of primary school. One hundred and eighty-nine children (mean age = 5;8 years) were assigned to an early literacy intervention in Luxembourgish or to a business as usual control group. Trained teachers delivered the intervention to entire classes, four times a week, during the last year of kindergarten. The early literacy program included direct instruction in phonological awareness and letter-knowledge, while promoting print and book awareness and literacy engagement. Children were assessed pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and at a 9 months delayed follow-up using measures in Luxembourgish and in German. At the end of the intervention, children in the intervention group performed significantly better than the control group on phonological awareness and letter-knowledge measures in Luxembourgish and the gains in phonological awareness were maintained at 9 months follow-up. The effects generalized to measures of phonological awareness, word-level reading comprehension and spelling in German (effect sizes d > 0.25), but not to German single word/pseudoword reading, at delayed follow-up. Intervention programs designed to support foundational literacy skills can be successfully implemented by regular teachers in a play-based kindergarten context. The findings suggest that early literacy intervention before school entry can produce educationally meaningful effects in linguistically diverse learners.

A Finger-Based Numerical Training Failed to Improve Arithmetic Skills in Kindergarten Children Beyond Effects of an Active Non-numerical Control Training

It is widely accepted that finger and number representations are associated: many correlations (including longitudinal ones) between finger gnosis/counting and numerical/arithmetical abilities have been reported. However, such correlations do not necessarily imply causal influence of early finger-number training; even in longitudinal designs, mediating variables may be underlying such correlations. Therefore, we investigated whether there may be a causal relation by means of an extensive experimental intervention in which the impact of finger-number training on initial arithmetic skills was tested in kindergarteners to see whether they benefit from the intervention even before they start formal schooling. The experimental group received 50 training sessions altogether for 10 weeks on a daily basis. A control group received phonology training of a similar duration and intensity. All children improved in the arithmetic tasks. To our surprise and contrary to most accounts in the literature, the improvement shown by the experimental training group was not superior to that of the active control group. We discuss conceptual and methodological reasons why the finger-number training employed in this study did not increase the initial arithmetic skills beyond the unspecific effects of the control intervention.

Binaural processing and phonological awareness in Australian Indigenous children from the Northern Territory: A community based study

OBJECTIVE

Research has found that otitis media (OM) is highly prevalent in Australian Indigenous children, and repeated bouts of OM is often associated with minimal-to-moderate hearing loss. However, what is not yet clear is the extent to which OM with hearing loss impacts auditory signal processing specifically, but also binaural listening, listening in noise, and the potential impact on phonological awareness (PA) - an important, emergent literacy skill. The goal of this study was to determine whether auditory abilities, especially binaural processing, were associated with PA in children from populations with a high incidence of OM, living in a remote Australian Indigenous community in the Northern Territory (NT).

METHODS

Forty-seven 5-12-year-olds from a bilingual school participated in the study. All were tested to determine hearing sensitivity (pure tone audiometry and tympanometry), with PA measured on a test specifically developed in the first language of the children. OM often results in a hearing loss that can affect binaural processing: the Dichotic Digit difference Test (DDdT) was used to evaluate the children's dichotic listening and the Listening in Spatialized Noise-sentences test (LiSN-S) was used to evaluate their abilities to listen to speech-in-noise.

RESULTS

Seventeen (36%) and 16 (34%) had compromised middle ear compliance (combined Type-B and -C) in the right and left ear respectively. Six children demonstrated a bilateral mild hearing loss, and another five children demonstrated a unilateral mild hearing loss. Thirty-one children were able to complete the DDdT listening task, whereas only 24 completed the speech in noise task (LiSN-S). Forty-four children (94%) were able to complete the letter identification subtask, comprising part of the PA task. The findings revealed that age was significantly correlated with all tasks such that the older children performed better across the board. Once hearing thresholds were controlled for, PA also correlated significantly with both binaural processing tasks of dichotic listening (r = 0.59, p < 0.001) and listening to speech in noise (r = -0.56, p = 0.005); indicating a potential association between early, emergent literacy and listening skills.

CONCLUSIONS

The significant correlations between phonological awareness and dichotic listening as well as phonological awareness with listening to speech-in-noise skills suggests auditory processing, rather than hearing thresholds per se, are associated to phonological awareness abilities of this cohort of children. This suggests that the ability to process the auditory signal is critical.

Predictors for delayed linguistic skills in very preterm infants

BACKGROUND

Preterm-born children are at higher risk for impaired linguistic abilities than are their term-born peers. The aim of the current study was to determine early predictors for delayed linguistic skills in very preterm-born preschool children.

METHODS

Between January 2005 and November 2010 all very preterm infants born at < 32 weeks gestation in Tyrol were prospectively enrolled (n = 421); 248 of them had a detailed examination at the age of five years including cognitive assessment (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, third edition (WPPSI-III) or Snijders-Oomen Nonverbal Intelligence Tests (SON-R)) as well as a screening test for language skills (Bielefelder screening for early diagnosis of reading problems and weak spelling (BISC)). The association between pre-and postnatal factors and poor performance on the BISC assessment was analyzed by means of logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

Of the 248 children 79 (31.8%) showed delayed literacy precursor skills. Male sex, gestational age, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) grades 3-4 and low maternal education were predictive for delayed linguistic skills at 5 years of age in the multivariate analysis.

CONCLUSION

This study identified predictors for delayed literacy precursor skills. These data support the finding that in very preterm infants pre-and perinatal as well as sociodemographic factors account for linguistic skills in the preschool period.

Leseentwicklung in der Kindheit

Zusammenfassung. Der Leseerwerb ist ein hoch komplexer Prozess, der durch eine Vielzahl von Faktoren beeinflusst werden kann. Bestimmte kognitive (internale) Fertigkeiten und Funktionen konnten bereits als individuelle Voraussetzungen zur effektiven (schrift)sprachlichen Informationsverarbeitung identifiziert werden. In dieser narrativen Überblicksarbeit wird der Einfluss von weiteren (externalen) Einflussfaktoren anhand von Informationen aus Übersichtsarbeiten und Meta-Analysen dargestellt. Dabei werden ausgewählte Faktoren (z. B. sozioökonomischer Status, häusliche Lernumgebung, Schule, urbaner Lärm) hervorgehoben. Weiterhin werden erfolgversprechende Absätze zur Prävention und Intervention skizziert. Es werden Präventionsprogramme beschrieben, die sich auf die individuelle Förderung von trainierbaren kognitiven Voraussetzungen fokussieren. Ebenfalls werden störungsspezifische und allgemeinwirksame Interventionsprogramme dargestellt, die für eine langfristige Leseförderung eingesetzt werden können.

Phonological awareness development in children with and without spoken language difficulties: A 12-month longitudinal study of German-speaking pre-school children

PURPOSE

There is strong empirical evidence that English-speaking children with spoken language difficulties (SLD) often have phonological awareness (PA) deficits. The aim of this study was to explore longitudinally if this is also true of pre-school children speaking German, a language that makes extensive use of derivational morphemes which may impact on the acquisition of different PA levels.

METHOD

Thirty 4-year-old children with SLD were assessed on 11 PA subtests at three points over a 12-month period and compared with 97 four-year-old typically developing (TD) children.

RESULT

The TD-group had a mean percentage correct of over 50% for the majority of tasks (including phoneme tasks) and their PA skills developed significantly over time. In contrast, the SLD-group improved their PA performance over time on syllable and rhyme, but not on phoneme level tasks. Group comparisons revealed that children with SLD had weaker PA skills, particularly on phoneme level tasks.

CONCLUSION

The study contributes a longitudinal perspective on PA development before school entry. In line with their English-speaking peers, German-speaking children with SLD showed poorer PA skills than TD peers, indicating that the relationship between SLD and PA is similar across these two related but different languages.

Feasibility of a Supplemental Phonological Awareness Intervention via Telepractice for Children with Hearing Loss: A Preliminary Study

The goal of the current study was to examine the feasibility of a telepractice intervention to improve phonological awareness skills in children with hearing loss as compared to a conventional in-person intervention. Twenty children with hearing loss participated in this study. Two groups of ten children each received a supplemental phonological awareness intervention either via telepractice or an in-person service delivery model. Within each of the two groups, five children were enrolled in preschool or kindergarten and five children were enrolled in first or second grade. The two groups of children demonstrated similar phonological awareness, non-verbal IQ, and vocabulary skills during pre-tests. After a 12-week intervention children with hearing loss showed improved phonological awareness skills as measured by a standardized post-test. No significant differences were found between the performance of the telepractice group and in-person group. Nor was a significant interaction found between the two age groups (PreK/K vs. 1st /2nd grade) and the two types of service delivery models (in-person vs. telepractice). The results suggest that a telepractice service delivery model is feasible for young children with hearing loss, and that telepractice may be as effective as in-person intervention in improving phonological awareness skills.

Moving Beyond Phonological Awareness: The Role of Phonological Awareness Skills in Arabic Reading Development

In the current research we investigate the role of early phonological awareness skills on reading development in diglossic Arabic. Two-hundred and six Arabic speaking first graders, composed of 25 at-linguistic risk pupils (LR group) and 181 normally developing readers, representing the found heterogeneity in the classroom participated in this study. For this purpose, phonological training program was developed where we followed the pupils' development in both phonological awareness skills and reading development in second grade. As indicated by the study results, higher achievements in phonological awareness measures was noted among HG group in first grade. After Training, significant improvement in phonological awareness was noted among both groups, where LR group was able to close the gaps in phonological awareness skills with HG group. When examining the relationship between phonological awareness and reading performance, moderate positive correlation was found within HG group whereas strong positive relationship was encountered with the LR group. Despite the progress in phonological awareness skills and its strong relationship with reading, LR group showed lower reading performance when compared to HG group. The study results are discussed in relation to its scientific and didactic implications on Arabic reading acquisition.

Training Early Literacy Related Skills: To Which Degree Does a Musical Training Contribute to Phonological Awareness Development?

Well-developed phonological awareness skills are a core prerequisite for early literacy development. Although effective phonological awareness training programs exist, children at risk often do not reach similar levels of phonological awareness after the intervention as children with normally developed skills. Based on theoretical considerations and first promising results the present study explores effects of an early musical training in combination with a conventional phonological training in children with weak phonological awareness skills. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design and measurements across a period of 2 years, we tested the effects of two interventions: a consecutive combination of a musical and a phonological training and a phonological training alone. The design made it possible to disentangle effects of the musical training alone as well the effects of its combination with the phonological training. The outcome measures of these groups were compared with the control group with multivariate analyses, controlling for a number of background variables. The sample included N = 424 German-speaking children aged 4–5 years at the beginning of the study. We found a positive relationship between musical abilities and phonological awareness. Yet, whereas the well-established phonological training produced the expected effects, adding a musical training did not contribute significantly to phonological awareness development. Training effects were partly dependent on the initial level of phonological awareness. Possible reasons for the lack of training effects in the musical part of the combination condition as well as practical implications for early literacy education are discussed.

Neural encoding of the speech envelope by children with developmental dyslexia

Developmental dyslexia is consistently associated with difficulties in processing phonology (linguistic sound structure) across languages. One view is that dyslexia is characterised by a cognitive impairment in the "phonological representation" of word forms, which arises long before the child presents with a reading problem. Here we investigate a possible neural basis for developmental phonological impairments. We assess the neural quality of speech encoding in children with dyslexia by measuring the accuracy of low-frequency speech envelope encoding using EEG. We tested children with dyslexia and chronological age-matched (CA) and reading-level matched (RL) younger children. Participants listened to semantically-unpredictable sentences in a word report task. The sentences were noise-vocoded to increase reliance on envelope cues. Envelope reconstruction for envelopes between 0 and 10Hz showed that the children with dyslexia had significantly poorer speech encoding in the 0-2Hz band compared to both CA and RL controls. These data suggest that impaired neural encoding of low frequency speech envelopes, related to speech prosody, may underpin the phonological deficit that causes dyslexia across languages.

Training in Phonemic Awareness: Greater on Tests of Phonemic Awareness

A review of 15 studies confirms that training in phonemic awareness has a larger effect on tests of phonemic awareness than on tests of real word reading and reading comprehension.

[Prevention of dyslexia – short-term and intermediate effects of promoting phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondence with at-risk preschool children]

Objective

This study assesses the short-term and intermediate effects of preschool training stimulating phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondence for children at risk of developing dyslexia. Moreover, we examined whether training reduced the frequency of subsequent dyslexic problems.

Method

25 children at risk of developing dyslexia were trained with Hören, Lauschen, Lernen 1 und 2 (Küspert & Schneider, 2008; Plume & Schneider, 2004) by their kindergarten teachers and were compared with 60 untrained at-risk children.

Results

The training revealed a significant short-term effect: The phonological awareness of trained at-risk children increased significantly over that of untrained at-risk children. However, there were no differences in phonological awareness, spelling, and reading ability between the first-graders in the training and control group. Furthermore, reading problems were reduced in the training group.

Conclusions

In the future, phonological awareness as well as additional predictors should be included when identifying children vulnerable to developing dyslexia. Moreover, in order to prevent dyslexia, additional prerequisite deficits need to be identified, alleviated, and their effects evaluated.

Children at Risk for Developing Reading Difficulties

This article reports two different experiments as part of a longitudinal study. The first experiment examines the long-term efficacy of two brief remedial procedures (a Meaning-Based procedure versus a cognitive remediation program, the PASS Reading Enhancement Program [PREP]) focusing on the differences in phonological and cognitive test performance of 40 children who needed remediation for poor word decoding in Grade 1. The second study reports the outcomes of an intensified version of the PREP program that emphasizes strengthening the cognitive processes underlying reading in a remaining group of 24 difficult-to-remediate Grade 2 students. Follow-up data are also reported for this group. The results of the first study indicated that the PREP group improved significantly more in pseudo-word reading compared to the meaning-based group right after remediation in Grade 1. These differences, however, were somewhat reduced when re-testing occurred in Grade 2 and may be due to the influence of classroom instruction. Indeed, when both groups were compared to the norming sample, they appeared to continue to develop at an accelerated rate. As for the results of the second study, which focused on the longitudinal development of those 24 children who exhibited a history of chronic low reading performance, it was shown that PREP remediation kept producing significant gains, especially in word-decoding, a finding consistent with the theoretical framework of PREP.

Metaanalyse zur Wirksamkeit einer Förderung der phonologischen Bewusstheit in der deutschen Sprache

Zusammenfassung. Internationale Metaanalysen belegen bedeutsame Effekte einer Förderung der phonologischen Bewusstheit auf den Schriftspracherwerb. In der vorliegenden Metaanalyse mit 27 Primärstudien wurden die Effekte phonologischer Fördermaßnahmen auf die frühen schriftsprachlichen Kompetenzen im Deutschen quantifiziert. Die Analysen belegten generell höhere Effekte für Fördermaßnahmen, die vor der Einschulung stattfanden. Eine vorschulische Förderung besaß zwar keine signifikanten Effekte auf die Dekodierfähigkeit; jedoch konnten geringe Effekte auf die Rechtschreibkompetenz nachgewiesen werden, was auf die unterschiedliche Konsistenz der Graphem-Phonem- und Phonem-Graphem-Zuordnungen zurückzuführen sein könnte. Analysen zum Einfluss von Moderatoren ergaben, dass Kinder mit schwachen und guten Ausgangskompetenzen gleichermaßen von der Förderung profitieren, und dass die Kombination mit einem Buchstaben-Laut-Training keine inkrementellen Effekte im Vergleich zu rein phonologischen Fördermaßnahmen hat. Insgesamt fielen die metaanalytischen Trainingseffekte der deutschsprachigen Förderprogramme deutlich niedriger aus als in den internationalen Metaanalysen. Für diesen Befund werden sprachliche und methodische Erklärungen gegeben.

Children’s Phonological Awareness as a Predictor of Reading and Spelling

Abstract. Numerous observational and experimental studies have shown that phonological awareness relates to reading and spelling. However, most studies were conducted in English-speaking countries, neglecting the issue of the generalizability of the findings across different orthographies. This meta-analysis focused exclusively on studies from German-speaking countries and explored how measures of phonological awareness relate longitudinally to reading and spelling. It summarized 19 manuscripts reporting the results of 21 independent studies. Results indicated a mean effect size of Zr = 0.318 (r = .308) for the relation between phonological awareness and later reading and spelling. Moderator analyses showed that phonological awareness on the rhyme level was less related to reading and spelling than phonological awareness on the phoneme level. Furthermore, the predictive power of phonological awareness remained substantial even for children beyond the second grade. The findings suggest that research on reading and spelling development should take into account the characteristics of German orthography.

Wie effektiv sind Maßnahmen zur Förderung der phonologischen Bewusstheit?

Die phonologische Bewusstheit wird vielfach als notwendige Voraussetzung für den Schriftspracherwerb gesehen und stellt daher einen möglichen Ansatzpunkt für intervenierende Maßnahmen dar. Die Wirksamkeit von Trainingsprogrammen wurde jedoch bislang im deutschen Sprachraum nicht zusammenfassend geprüft. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde geprüft, ob ein Training phonologischer Bewusstheit für deutschsprachige Kinder effektiv ist, um deren Schriftspracherwerb zu fördern. Insgesamt wurden 19 Arbeiten, welche 22 Trainings-Kontrollgruppen-Vergleiche enthielten, durch eine systematische Literaturrecherche identifiziert und deren Ergebnisse meta-analytisch integriert. Für Maße der phonologischen Bewusstheit zeigte sich ein mittlerer, statistisch bedeutsamer Trainingseffekt in Höhe von d = 0.36. Ebenso waren im Mittel kurzfristige (d = 0.21) sowie langfristige (d = 0.14) signifikante Transfereffekte für das Lesen und Rechtschreiben nachweisbar. Im Vergleich zu Ergebnissen aus dem englischen Sprachraum zeigen die hier integrierten Befunde eine geringere Wirksamkeit von Fördermaßnahmen der phonologischen Bewusstheit für den Schriftspracherwerb im Deutschen. Systematische Orthographieunterschiede stellen einen Erklärungsansatz für diese divergierende Befundlage dar.

Prädiktoren der Lesekompetenz bei Kindern mit Deutsch als Zweitsprache

Die vorliegende Längsschnittstudie beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, ob sich Ergebnisse hinsichtlich vorschulischer Prädiktoren der Lesekompetenz einsprachig deutscher Kinder auf Kinder mit Deutsch als Zweitsprache (DaZ) übertragen lassen. Ein Pfadmodell zur Vorhersage der Lesekompetenz zum Ende der ersten bzw. zweiten Klassenstufe wurde dabei sowohl auf einsprachige (n = 111) als auch auf DaZ-Kinder (n = 282) angewendet. Zunächst wurde die Pfadstruktur der am Ende der Kindergartenzeit bzw. zu Beginn der Schulzeit erfassten Vorläuferfertigkeiten nonverbale Intelligenz, phonologisches Arbeitsgedächtnis, sprachliche Kompetenz, Schnelles Benennen, Buchstabenkenntnis und phonologische Bewusstheit untereinander betrachtet. Hier unterschieden sich die Effektmuster bei einsprachigen und DaZ-Kindern nicht signifikant. Ebenso zeigt sich in beiden Sprachgruppen ein vergleichbares Bild hinsichtlich der Einflussfaktoren des Leseverständnisses. Bedeutsame Unterschiede zwischen den Sprachgruppen ergaben sich jedoch bezüglich der Vorhersage der Lesegeschwindigkeit: In der Gruppe der einsprachigen Kinder war die phonologische Bewusstheit der bedeutsamste Prädiktor. Bei den DaZ-Kindern hingegen war der Einfluss der phonologischen Bewusstheit auf die Lesegeschwindigkeit nicht von Bedeutung, dafür erfolgte der größte Teil der Varianzaufklärung durch die nonverbale Intelligenz.

Emergent literacy intervention for prekindergartners at risk for reading failure: years 2 and 3 of a multiyear study

This research examined the effectiveness of an emergent literacy intervention for prekindergarten children at risk for reading failure, to replicate and improve on significant findings from year 1 of the study. Data are reported for 266 children in 72 child care and preschool sites in year 2 of the study and for 374 children at 102 sites in year 3. The intervention consisted of eighteen 30-min lessons delivered twice weekly to small groups of children. Lessons targeted critical emergent literacy skills through explicit, developmentally appropriate activities for prekindergartners. Hierarchical linear models were used to nest children within center and measure treatment effects on phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and vocabulary skills. Results indicated significant treatment effects on multiple measures in years 2 and 3. This study replicated and strengthened findings from year 1 in demonstrating a positive impact of this intervention for prekindergarteners at risk for reading failure.

The effect of a music program on phonological awareness in preschoolers

The present experiment investigated the effect of a music program on phonological awareness in preschoolers. In particular, the effects of a music program and a phonological skills program on phonological awareness were compared. If language and music share basic processing mechanisms, the effect of both programs on enhancing phonological awareness should be similar. Forty-one preschoolers (22 boys) were randomly assigned to a phonological skills program, a music program, and a control group that received sports training (from which no effect was expected). Preschoolers were trained for 10 min on a daily basis over a period of 20 weeks. In a pretest, no differences were found between the three groups in regard to age, gender, intelligence, socioeconomic status, and phonological awareness. Children in the phonological skills group and the music group showed significant increases in phonological awareness from pre- to post-test. The children in the sports group did not show a significant increase from pre- to post-test. The enhancement of phonological awareness was basically driven by positive effects of the music program and the phonological skills program on phonological awareness for large phonological units. The data suggests that phonological awareness can be trained with a phonological skills program as well as a music program. These results can be interpreted as evidence of a shared sound category learning mechanism for language and music at preschool age.

Practitioner Review: Reading disorders: what are the effective interventions and how should they be implemented and evaluated?

BACKGROUND

  Two developmental reading disorders, dyslexia and reading comprehension impairment, are identified by different behavioural characteristics and traced back to different underlying cognitive impairments. Thus, reading interventions designed to address each of these reading disorders differ in content.

METHOD

This review summarises the nature of dyslexia and reading comprehension impairment, and current understanding of best practice in associated reading interventions.

CONCLUSION

  There is strong evidence for the effectiveness of phonological-based reading interventions in supporting children with dyslexic difficulties, and a growing understanding of how to meet the needs of children with reading comprehension impairment, with vocabulary instruction offering a promising approach. Although the content of interventions must be tailored to an individual's reader profile, general principles regarding the implementation and evaluation of intervention programmes can be extracted.

[Prevention of dyslexia--effects of a home-based training to promote early literacy. A pilot study]

OBJECTIVE

The importance of preschool programs to enhance children's phonological abilities in order to prevent dyslexia has been proved often. In contrast, we know much less about parents' means to promote early language abilities. The present study investigates the effects of a parental training focusing on joint book reading with the preschool child and activities to further phoneme differentiation in comparison to the established preschool program Hören, lauschen, lernen [Hear, listen, learn].

METHOD

Three groups of preschool children participated in the study. Group 1 participated in the program Hören, lauschen, lernen, while Group 2 took part in the new self-developed parent program. The third group participated in a combination of both programs. Parental satisfaction was assessed by means of a written questionnaire. Children's progress was analyzed by means of the Bielefelder Screening zur Früherkennung von Lese-Rechtschreibschwierigkeiten (BISC) [Bielefeld Screening for Early Recognition of Dyslexia] and the Heidelberger Auditives Screening in der Einschulungsuntersuchung (HASE) [Heidelberg Auditory Screening in the School Entry Examination].

RESULTS

Parents showed great interest in the program and judged it positively. The majority of parents implemented the activities regularly at home. Children in all groups improved their phonological abilities significantly and to the same extent.

CONCLUSIONS

The parent program proved to be easy to implement and a good opportunity to promote children's preliterate abilities at home.

Spelling deficits in dyslexia: evaluation of an orthographic spelling training

Orthographic spelling is a major difficulty in German-speaking children with dyslexia. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an orthographic spelling training in spelling-disabled students (grade 5 and 6). In study 1, ten children (treatment group) received 15 individually administered weekly intervention sessions (60 min each). A control group (n = 4) did not receive any intervention. In study 2, orthographic spelling training was provided to a larger sample consisting of a treatment group (n = 13) and a delayed treatment control group (n = 14). The main criterion of spelling improvement was analyzed using an integrated dataset from both studies. Repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed that gains in spelling were significantly greater in the treatment group than in the control group. Statistical analyses also showed significant improvements in reading (study 1) and in a measure of participants' knowledge of orthographic spelling rules (study 2). The findings indicate that an orthographic spelling training enhances reading and spelling ability as well as orthographic knowledge in spelling-disabled children learning to spell a transparent language like German.

Evaluation einer vorschulischen Förderung der phonologischen Bewusstheit und der Buchstaben- Laut Korrespondenz

Fragestellung: Vorliegende Studie evaluiert die Langzeiteffekte eines vorschulischen Trainings in phonologischer Bewusstheit und in Buchstaben-Laut Korrespondenz. Methodik: Die Kinder der Experimental- und Kontrollgruppe der Ursprungsstudie ( Blaser, Preuss, Groner, Groner & Felder, 2007 ) wurden am Ende des 3. und 4. Schuljahres erneut mit Lese- und Rechtschreibtests nachuntersucht. Ergebnisse: Die Ergebnisse zeigen keine signifikanten Unterschiede zwischen der Experimental- und Kontrollgruppe in den durchschnittlichen Lese- und Rechtschreibleistungen. Trainingseffekte zeigen sich in einer Reduktion der Anzahl von Kindern mit Rechtschreibschwierigkeiten in der Trainingsgruppe. Schlussfolgerungen: Zusammenfassend werden die Ergebnisse als Bestätigung der Wirksamkeit des Trainings in der primären Prävention von Rechtschreibschwierigkeiten interpretiert. Trotz dieser positiven Ergebnisse bleibt ein kleiner Anteil an Kindern, die trotz vorschulischer Förderung später Lese- und Rechtschreibschwierigkeiten entwickeln. Auf diese Kinder sollte sich die Aufmerksamkeit der Forschung in Zukunft richten.

Kindergartenbasierte Förderung der phonologischen Bewusstheit „Lobo vom Globo“

Das kindergartenbasierte Training „Lobo vom Globo“ zur Förderung der phonologischen Bewusstheit wird dargestellt. Es werden Kinder vor Schuleintritt gefördert, wobei sich die Maßnahme über einen Zeitraum von zwölf Wochen erstreckt. Die Bedeutung der phonologischen Bewusstheit für den Lese- und Schriftspracherwerb ist bereits umfangreich dokumentiert. Untersucht wird, ob und inwiefern Kinder von dem Training der phonologischen Bewusstheit profitieren. An der Studie nahmen insgesamt 191 Kinder teil, bei denen sowohl unmittelbar vor Beginn und nach Abschluss des Trainings die Fähigkeiten zur phonologischen Bewusstheit überprüft wurden (Interventionsgruppe: n = 94). Kinder der Fördergruppe erzielten nach Abschluss des Trainings in allen Untertests signifikant bessere Leistungen als Kinder der Kontrollgruppe.

Emergent literacy intervention for prekindergarteners at risk for reading failure

This study examined the effectiveness of an assessment and intervention study targeting prekindergarten children at risk for reading failure. Across 38 child care sites, 220 children were identified as "at risk" for reading failure due to their performance on a screening measure of early literacy skills and randomly assigned to receive immediate or delayed intervention. The intervention consisted of eighteen 30-minute lessons delivered twice weekly for 9 weeks and focused on teaching critical emergent literacy skills within small groups. Hierarchical linear models were used to nest children within center and measure treatment and dosage effects for students' residualized gains in rhyming, alliteration, picture naming, and print and letter knowledge skills. Results indicated significant treatment effects on two of four outcome variables (rhyming and alliteration) and significant dosage effects on all four variables. The study demonstrated a significant positive impact of this intervention for prekindergartners at risk for reading failure.

Kurz- und langfristige Effekte mathematischer Frühförderung im Kindergarten durch das Programm „Mengen, zählen, Zahlen”

Zusammenfassung. Es werden Befunde aus einer ersten Erprobung des mathematischen Frühförderprogramms „Mengen, zählen, Zahlen” (MZZ; Krajewski, Nieding & Schneider, 2007 ) berichtet. Insgesamt 260 Vorschulkinder nahmen im Verlauf ihres letzten Kindergartenjahres an verschiedenen Fördermaßnahmen teil. Neben der Gruppe mit MZZ-Förderung wurde eine weitere Gruppe mit einem Training induktiven Denkens gefördert. Die Kontrollgruppe erhielt im gleichen Zeitraum (Okt–Dez) kein spezifisches Training; ein Teil dieser Kinder wurde jedoch unter nicht-kontrollierten Bedingungen zwischen Mai und Juli mit einem anderen mathematischen Frühförderprogramm trainiert. Ein Jahr sowie acht bzw. zwei Monate vor Schuleintritt wurden spezifische und unspezifische Vorläuferkompetenzen erhoben. Nur für die Kinder der MZZ-Gruppe konnten Fördereffekte im Bereich der mathematischen Vorläuferkompetenzen (Mengen-Zahlen-Kompetenzen) nachgewiesen werden. Keine Effekte zeigten sich hingegen auf nicht-mathematikspezifische Kompetenzen (z.B. phonologische Bewusstheit, Arbeitsgedächtnis).

Elternbezogene Förderung der phonologischen Bewusstheit im Kindergartenalter

Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird ein Elternprogramm zur Förderung der phonologischen Bewusstheit für Kinder im Vorschulalter, „Lobo vom Globo“, vorgestellt. Das Training richtet sich gezielt an Eltern und erstreckt sich über einen Zeitraum von fünf Wochen. Die Bedeutung der phonologischen Bewusstheit und ihrer vorschulischen Förderung für das Erlernen des Lesens und Rechtschreibens ist inzwischen umfangreich dokumentiert. Es wird untersucht, ob und inwiefern Vorschulkinder von dem Training zur phonologischen Bewusstheit „Lobo vom Globo“ profitieren. Es wurde ein Elterntraining zur Förderung der phonologischen Bewusstheit eingesetzt. Berichtet werden die Ergebnisse von insgesamt 70 Kindern im letzten bzw. vorletzten Kindergartenjahr, bei denen unmittelbar vor und nach dem Training die phonologischen Fertigkeiten erfasst wurden (Interventionsgruppe: n = 35). Signifikante Effekte zeigen sich vor allem im Bereich der phonologischen Bewusstheit im weiteren Sinne. Besonders deutliche Effekte konnten für die älteren Kinder (5 Jahre und älter) verzeichnet werden.

Is a specialised training of phonological awareness indicated in every preschool child?

OBJECTIVE AND METHODS

In a prospective study 218 preschool children were enrolled (stratified in 2 training programs, one specialized for phonologic awareness in order to prevent dyslexia, the other consisting in training of general perception) during the last year of kindergarten. After finishing the first grade 131 children were compared in their reading and writing abilities.

RESULTS

In the whole group only a slight difference was found between both training modalities concerning their writing abilities. However, children with a history of hearing loss, actual hearing loss or pathologic middle ear findings profited most from the specialized training program compared to the control in their reading abilities.

CONCLUSION

A specialized training program to improve phonologic awareness as a basis for reading and writing in every kindergarten and preschool child seems to be unnecessary. However, children with temporary hearing deficits benefit from such a program. For all other children general perception training may be sufficient.

[Short-, middle and long-term effects of training in phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondence on phonological awareness and on reading and spelling]

OBJECTIVE

The present study intended to evaluate the short-, middle and long-term effects of preschool training in phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondence, conducted in Swiss dialect in Swiss kindergartens, on the basis of the outcome variables phonological awareness and reading and spelling competence.

METHOD

From a total sample of 109 children with complete datasets over all measurement points, a paired sample of 26 children each from the experimental and from the control group was selected for statistical analyses. Evaluated on the one hand were the short- middle and longer-term effects of the training on the development of the phonological awareness, while on the other, the average reading and spelling competencies and the percentage of reading-and-spelling disabled children in the training and in the control group were compared for the 1st and 2nd grades.

RESULTS

Effects of the training on phonological awareness could be documented up to the beginning of the 1st grade. The average reading and spelling competencies did not differ be-tween the groups, whereas the percentage of spelling-disabled children was markedly reduced in the training group.

CONCLUSIONS

As a whole, the results are seen as a confirmation of the efficacy of the training in the primary prevention of reading and writing disorders.

Innovative programs for improvement in reading through cognitive enhancement: a remediation study of Canadian First Nations children

Forty-five Grade 3 students from a reservation school in Western Canada were divided into two remedial groups and a no-risk control group. One remedial group was given a classroom-administered cognitive enhancement program (COGENT) throughout the school year. The second group received COGENT for the first half of the year followed by a pull-out cognitive-based reading enhancement program (PREP). Children were assessed across phonological awareness, rapid naming, reading, and cognitive ability at the beginning of the year, mid-term, and at the end of the school year. MANOVA results showed a significant interaction for reading measures, with students receiving classroom intervention over the school year making the greatest gains. Results are discussed in terms of group, remediation program, and individual participant improvements.

Phonological or orthographic training for children with phonological or orthographic decoding deficits

In a longitudinal intervention study, Swedish reading disabled children in grades 2-3 received either a phonological (n = 41) or an orthographic (n = 39) training program. Both programs were computerized and interventions took place in ordinary school settings with trained special instruction teachers. Two comparison groups, ordinary special instruction and normal readers, were also included in the study. Results showed strong average training effects on text reading and general word decoding for both phonological and orthographic training, but not significantly higher improvements than for the comparison groups. The main research finding was a double dissociation: children with pronounced phonological problems improved their general word decoding skill more from phonological than from orthographic training, whereas the opposite was observed for children with pronounced orthographic problems. Thus, in this population of children, training should focus on children's relative weakness rather than their relative strength in word decoding.

Auditive Verarbeitungs- und Wahrnehmungsstörungen

The consensus statement published by the German Society for Phoniatry and Paedaudiology in the year 2000 has been revised and actualized. The revised version takes into account current scientific and clinical findings. Aspects of the definition of auditory processing disorders (APD) are described extensively. These include symptoms, anamnestic information and diagnostic steps (preliminary examinations, subjective and objective audiological procedures). APD can appear in different forms, some of which can be classified within subtypes. Furthermore, factors which need to be considered in order to differentiate between APD and other diseases are specified. Therapeutic intervention possibilities which are rated according to their prognostic values conclude the article.

Die Prävention von Lese-Rechtschreibschwierigkeiten

Zusammenfassung. Der Erfolg von vorschulischen Programmen zur Förderung der phonologischen Bewusstheit ist mittlerweile hinlänglich belegt. Unklar ist allerdings, inwieweit auch Kinder mit Migrationshintergrund von solchen Förderprogrammen profitieren. In der vorliegenden Längsschnittstudie nahmen Kinder mit deutscher Muttersprache und Kinder mit Migrationshintergrund an einem vorschulischen Training der phonologischen Bewusstheit und der Buchstabe-Laut-Zuordnung teil. Vor Trainingsbeginn wurde eine umfangreiche Testbatterie zur Erfassung der phonologischen Informationsverarbeitung und der Buchstabenkenntnis eingesetzt. Unmittelbar nach Trainingsende wurden erneut die phonologische Bewusstheit und die Buchstabenkenntnis der Kinder erhoben. Am Ende des ersten Schuljahres wurden dann die Lese-Rechtschreibleistungen bestimmt. Kinder mit Migrationshintergrund zeigten bei den Vortests deutlich niedrigere Leistungen in der phonologischen Informationsverarbeitung als Kinder mit deutscher Muttersprache. Sie profitierten jedoch in vergleichbarem Ausmaß vom Training der phonologischen Bewusstheit hinsichtlich der unmittelbaren Trainingseffekte. In den Lese-Rechtschreibtests schnitten die Migrantenkinder insgesamt etwas schlechter ab als die Kinder mit deutscher Muttersprache.

Profitiert das kindliche Sprachsystem von anderen kognitiven Entwicklungsbereichen?

Zusammenfassung. In der vorliegenden Pilotstudie wird untersucht, ob sich der kindliche Spracherwerb im Sinne einer Kompetenzsteigerung a) durch ein Sprachtraining oder b) durch ein Training induktiven Denkens fördern lässt. Der Nachweis von trainingsspezifischen und Transfereffekten bei Kindern zeigt folgendes Bild: Das eingesetzte Sprachtraining fördert die Dimensionen Semantik und Morphologie, nicht aber das induktive Denken. Das Training induktiven Denkens dagegen fördert sowohl die sprachlichen Leistungen als auch induktives Denken. Damit stellen sich die Leistungen des kindlichen Sprachsystems nicht nur als sensibel für sprachliche Trainings dar, sondern auch für die Förderung induktiver Strategien, wohingegen die Leistung induktiven Denkens nicht von einer sprachlichen Förderung zu profitieren vermag.