1、TEACHING ALPHABETIC KNOWLEDGE SKILLS TO PRESCHOOLERS WITH SPECIFIC LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT AND TYPICALLY DEVELOPING LANGUAGE,Addie Lafferty, Shelley Gray, & M. Jeanne Wilcox Department of Speech & Hearing Science Infant Child Research Programs Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona Contact: addie.laffe
2、rtyasu.edu,PURPOSE OF THE STUDY,Explore emergent literacy skills in the area of print awareness, specifically in alphabetic knowledgeDetermine if alphabetic knowledge could be taught to preschoolers using an intensive intervention,WHY IS ALPHABETIC KNOWLEDGE IMPORTANT?,Alphabetic knowledge refers to
3、 a childs understanding of individual letter names and letter sounds At school entry, these skills are one of the single best predictors of later reading achievement Children with SLI are at risk for delays in developing early literacy skills and are at high risk for later reading difficulties Resea
4、rch thus far has been predictive in nature Virtually no data has been published on the training of these skills in children with SLI, particularly in preschool aged children,PARTICIPANTS,2 children with SLI; 2 with TLD (typical language development) 2 Hispanic; 2 White Spoke English as primary langu
5、age Recruited from university preschool program All began preschool in Fall of 2002 and attended school 2-3 days per week,DESIGN & PROCEDURE,Multiple baseline across subjects Children participated in baseline of target skills for 3 sessions before treatmentFirst pair of children (1 SLI & 1 TD) recei
6、ved 3 sessions of treatment and demonstrated emerging learning criteria of 30% before next pair began treatment Emerging learning criteria was average of 30% on all four skills in 2 of 3 sessions Treatment provided individually 3 days per week for 30 minutes per session Children pulled out of class
7、for treatment Mastery criterion was 60% for all four target skills. New letter was not introduced until child achieved 60% criterion as measured during the learning assessment at the end of each session,TARGET SKILLS,Recognition of letter names (“Point to the letter B.”) Production of letter names (
8、“What is the name of that letter?”) Recognition of letter sounds (“Point to the one that says /b/.”) Production of letter sounds (“What sound does that letter make?”),SELECTION OF LETTERS FOR TREATMENT,Letter name recognition & production task assessed which uppercase letters each child knew Each ch
9、ild could name or recognize at least 2 letters during this task, and performance varied from 2 to 18 letters Based on childs performance, 5 letters were selected for treatment All letters in childs first and last name and all vowels were excluded from treatment,SEQUENCE OF TEACHING TASKS,1. Model “T
10、his is the letter B. It says /b/.”2. Elicited Imitation “Say B. Say /b/.”3. Feedback “Thats right, this is the letter B. It says /b/.”,4. Recognition & Production Probe B D G H M “Find the letter B.”5. Letter Name & Sound Learning Assessment B P J K L R Z “Find the letter B. What sound does that let
11、ter make?”,PARTICIPANTS,AJ: 4 year 4 month old male with SLICJ: 4 year old female with SLI,DW: 3 year 7 month old male with TDEW: 4 year 8 month old male with TD,LETTER NAME RECOGNITION BY CHILD,LETTER NAME PRODUCTION BY CHILD,LETTER SOUND RECOGNITION BY CHILD,LETTER SOUND PRODUCTION BY CHILD,SUMMAR
12、Y OF RESULTS BY CHILD,INTERESTING FINDINGS,For 3 of 4 children, intervention was successful at teaching letter names & sounds Each child learned at different rate and showed different patterns of acquisition for four target skills More stability was seen in letter names than letter sounds For 3 chil
13、dren who demonstrated learning, higher accuracy was noted in letter name recognition & production All 4 children recognized & produced names of more untreated letters at post-test Teacher and parent report suggested participation in intervention increased childrens interest in learning letter names at home and school,ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,The authors would like to thank the children and parents who participated in this study.This study was funded through U.S. Department of Education Grant H325D000004.,
