Teaching Phonological Awareness to Preschoolers with Down Syndrome: Boosting Reading Readiness

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  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://sagepub.com
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      13
    • Sponsoring Agency:
      Office of Special Education Programs (ED/OSERS)
    • Contract Number:
      H325H140001
      H325D140073
    • Education Level:
      Early Childhood Education
      Preschool Education
    • Subject Terms:
      Phonological Awareness; Down Syndrome; Preschool Children; Reading Skills; Emergent Literacy; Preschool Education; Intervention; Reading Instruction; Student Behavior; Direct Instruction; Students with Disabilities; Program Effectiveness; Reading Programs; Educational Games; Student Evaluation; Generalization; Reading Strategies
    • Accession Number:
      10.1177/1096250619865953
    • ISSN:
      1096-2506
    • Abstract:
      Phonological awareness (PA) is defined as a child's ability to hear and manipulate parts of spoken language (National Early Literacy Panel [NELP], 2009; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHD], 2000). Ensuring that children develop PA increases the likelihood that they are successful with later reading instruction. Two types of PA skills are most important to future reading readiness (NICHD, 2000). These include the ability to "blend" smaller sound units into words (/b/ /a/ /t/ [right arrow] "bat") and "segment" spoken words into smaller sound units ("milk" [right arrow] /m/ /ilk/). Young children with Down Syndrome (DS) often struggle to develop PA skills, particularly in comparison with peers without disabilities (Lemons & Fuchs, 2010; Martin, Klusek, Estigarribia, & Roberts, 2009; Naess, 2016). Nonetheless, there is a significant relation between PA, current reading abilities, and later reading skills for children with DS (Lemons & Fuchs, 2010). This makes early PA interventions especially important. Furthermore, many children with DS exhibit potentially problematic behaviors, such as work avoidance (Fidler & Nadel, 2007). Therefore, early childhood educators must consider comprehensive PA interventions that address the academic and behavioral needs of their children with DS. Explicit instruction is especially important for children with DS who often demonstrate deficits in PA-related concepts and are at risk for later reading difficulties (Lemons & Fuchs, 2010; Martin et al., 2009; Naess, 2016). With explicit instruction, children with disabilities broadly (see Gillon, 2000) and DS specifically (see Lemons & Fuchs, 2010; van Bysterveldt, Gillon, & Foster-Cohen, 2010) show improved PA skills, which support later reading development. This article describes "Boost," a brief, explicit PA intervention designed for preschoolers with DS.
    • Abstract:
      ERIC
    • Publication Date:
      2021
    • Accession Number:
      EJ1290185