Lexical-Level Predictors of Reading Comprehension in Third Grade: Is Spelling a Unique Contributor?

Purpose: Considerable research effort has focused on understanding reading comprehension and reading comprehension difficulties. The purpose of this correlational study was to add to the small but growing body of literature on the role that spelling may play in reading comprehension, by investigating the full range of lexical-level literacy skills and whether spelling makes a unique contribution. This study also explored whether these relations vary with the spelling scoring metric. Method: Data were collected from 63 children attending Grade 3 in a Midwestern state. In addition to measuring reading comprehension, word recognition, and vocabulary, 4 spelling scoring metrics were examined: the number of words spelled correctly, the number of correct letter sequences (CLS), and Spelling Sensitivity Scores for elements and for words. Results: All spelling metrics were significantly correlated with reading comprehension. Results of hierarchical regressions showed that spelling was a significant, unique predictor of reading comprehension when the CLS metric was used. The scoring metrics were differentially related to reading comprehension. Metrics that gave credit based on orthographic precision only (number of words spelled correctly and CLS) were more highly related to reading comprehension than metrics that scored not only on orthographic accuracy but also on phonological and morphological accuracy (Spelling Sensitivity Scores for elements and for words). Conclusion: These results indicate that spelling is related to reading comprehension and have theoretical and clinical implications for the use of spelling assessment

The Index Of Narrative Microstructure: A Clinical Tool For Analyzing School-Age Children's Narrative Performances

Purpose: This research was conducted to develop a clinical tool-the Index of Narrative Microstructure (INMIS)-that would parsimoniously account for important microstructural aspects of narrative production for school-age children. The study provides field test age- and grade-based INMIS values to aid clinicians in making normative judgments about microstructural aspects of pupils' narrative performance. Method: Narrative samples using a single-picture elicitation context were collected from 250 children age 5-12 years and then transcribed and segmented into T-units. A T-unit consists of a single main clause and any dependent constituents. The narrative transcripts were then coded and analyzed to document a comprehensive set of microstructural indices. Results: Factor analysis indicated that narrative microstructure consisted of 2 moderately related factors. The Productivity factor primarily comprised measures of word output, lexical diversity, and T-unit output. The Complexity factor comprised measures of syntactic organization, with mean length of T-units in words and proportion of complex T-units loading most strongly. Principal components analysis was used to provide a linear combination of 8 variables to approximate the 2 factors. Formulas for calculating a student's performance on the 2 factors using 8 narrative measures are provided. Conclusions: This study provided a method for professionals to calculate INMIS scores for narrative Productivity and Complexity for comparison against field test data for age (5- to 12-year-old) or grade (kindergarten to Grade 6) groupings. INMIS scores complement other tools in evaluating a child's narrative performance specifically and language abilities more generally.Communication Sciences and Disorder

It Depends: The Conditional Correlation Between Frequency of Storybook Reading and Emergent Literacy Skills in Children At Risk for Language Difficulty

The current study examined the association between frequency of storybook reading and emergent literacy in 212 children at risk for language impairment, assessed during the fall semester of kindergarten. Measures included parent-reported storybook reading, as well as direct assessments of print knowledge, letter awareness, and expressive vocabulary. Results suggested nonsignificant to moderate (r = .11 to .25) correlations between frequency of storybook reading and child emergent literacy across the entire range of environment and ability. Quantile regression results suggested that the association was highest at low frequency of storybook reading, particularly for print knowledge, approaching r = .50. Moreover, the association between frequency of storybook reading and emergent literacy was highest at higher levels of emergent literacy for print knowledge, but particularly for letter naming, approaching r = .80. These results suggest that in children with language difficulties, the relationship between aspects of the home environment and emergent literacy is conditional upon the quality of the home environment as well as child’s proficiency in emergent literacy skills

Person-centered approach to examining emergent literacy risks in children with specific language impairment

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are at increased risk for reading difficulties, and some studies suggest that these problems are evident even with pre-reading skills, such as alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness. To date, most studies asserting these emergent literacy difficulties have relied on mean score differences between children with SLI and children who are typically developing. However, work concerning children with SLI also reports considerable heterogeneity, such that some children perform as well as typically developing peers. The present study utilizes a person-centered approach to examine whether the actual proportion of preschool children with SLI (n = 62) who might be identified as “at risk” on measures of emergent literacy differs significantly from the proportion of age-matched typically developing peers (n = 40), and whether a subset of children with concomitant speech impairment would exhibit greatest risk. Results showed that a significantly greater percentage of children with SLI were classified as at risk on all three emergent literacy measures, and the percentage of children at risk for each measure was similar. Children with concomitant speech and language impairment performed more poorly on the alphabet knowledge measure, as compared to those with LI-only, but had similar scores on the other two measures (rhyme awareness and print knowledge). Implications of these findings with respect to assessing emergent literacy in children with language disorders are discussed

Quality of the Literacy Environment in Inclusive Early Childhood Special Education ECSE Classrooms

The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of the literacy environment in inclusive early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms (N = 54). The first aim was to describe the quality of the literacy environment in terms of structure (i.e., book materials and print/writing materials) and instruction (i.e., instructional support). The second aim was to examine the interrelationships among teacher and classroom characteristics and the quality of the literacy environment. Results showed that, on average, the quality of the structural literacy environment was low to moderate, and the quality of the instructional literacy environment was generally low. The number of children who were Dual Language Learners related to the quality of the structural literacy environment. The quality of the instructional literacy environment was positively associated with two teacher variables (teacher education and self-efficacy) and was negatively associated with one teacher variable (the number of language and literacy workshops attended). Implications are discussed

Early childhood educators’ knowledge, beliefs, education, experiences, and children’s language- and literacy-learning opportunities: What is the connection?

In this study, we investigated how multiple types of knowledge and beliefs, along with holding an early childhood-related degree and teaching experience, were linked to amounts of early childhood educators’ language and literacy instruction. Quantile regression was used to estimate associations between these variables along a continuum of language and literacy instruction for 222 early childhood educators. In general, low levels of language- and literacy-related instruction were observed; however, the use of quantile regression afforded unique insight into the associations of knowledge, beliefs, education, and teaching experience with instruction when levels of instruction were sufficient. These findings would not have been visible with traditional, linear regression models. Specifically, two types of knowledge were examined: disciplinary-related content knowledge about the structure of language and knowledge for use in teaching language and literacy to young children. Only educators’ disciplinary content knowledge was associated with amount of instruction. Associations between beliefs about language and literacy instruction and amount of instruction were less consistent. Generally, holding an early childhood related degree was positively associated with language and literacy instruction whereas teaching experience was negatively associated with the amount of instruction. Implications for studying educators and understanding the associations among educator characteristics and instruction are discussed

An empirical investigation of the dimensionality of the physical literacy environment in early childhood classrooms

This study investigated the dimensionality of the physical literacy environment of early childhood education classrooms. Data on the classroom physical literacy environment were collected from 245 classrooms using the Classroom Literacy Observation Profile. A combination of confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis was used to identify five separate dimensions of the physical literacy environment; including (a) variety and use of books, (b) variety and use of writing center materials, (c) variety and use of technology, (d) variety of environmental print and (e) variety and use of other literacy-related materials. Overall, these five dimensions demonstrated reasonable reliability and validity. Implications for investigating the physical literacy environment and future directions for research are discussed

The Transformation Project: Program Update 2015-2016

In 2014 Nebraska took a giant step toward fixing pervasive issues plaguing agencies throughout the justice system culminating in a prison system that was bursting at the seams. The state enlisted the services of the Council of State Governments (CSG), a national organization dedicated to helping state governments problem-solve and develop policies for the common good. Over the next several years, the CSG worked to help Nebraska usher in policies that would begin to shape justice reinvestment in the state. Along with the CSG’s initial assessment procedures, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) asked the group to do an additional review of its institutional programming. The report, released in June of 2016, drove home what many of us who had been working to implement programming within the Department had already experienced: not enough staff to run programs and not enough assessment procedures and training in place to ensure programs are running well. The report also detailed a number of recommendations for NDCS, which included providing more efficient and effective programming. We were delighted to see the effort we had given to specific areas of Transformation Project curriculum and implementation matched perfectly with the CSG’s recommendations. By working to address multiple criminogenic needs at once, building proficiency by integrating graduated skills practice and utilizing gender and youth specific curriculum, Transformation Project is ahead of the curve when it comes to comprehensive prison programming. Our attention to incorporating fidelity measures is also right on target to help overcome some of the issues faced by corrections systems as they work to implement programming. This is reassuring as we develop a program that fits the needs of Nebraska and meets high national standards