The Reading Readiness Skills of Typically Developing and Language Disordered Preschool Latino(a) Children

Abstract:

This study's purpose was to investigate the emergent literacy skills of four-year-old Latino(a) preschoolers. The participants were typically developing or diagnosed with a language disorder. They were of Puerto-Rican ancestry and monolingual Spanish-speakers, or bilingual Spanish/English-speakers.

Results revealed no significant differences between groups on the Concepts about Print Test, or their ability to identify environmental print. However, there were significant differences in their ability to identify letters.

These findings suggest the importance of parents exposing their children to activities which facilitate the emergence of reading readiness skills. Additional research is warranted to determine effective literacy predictors in culturally and linguistically diverse populations.

Introduction:

Previous studies suggested children with diagnosed preschool language disorders are likely to develop reading and academic difficulties later (Bishop & Adams, 1990; Catts, 1991; Scarborough, 1991). This is not surprising considering the high correlation between language acquisition and the development of literacy (Snow, Scarborough, & Burns, 1999). Speech and language development represents a major preschool learning skill and forms the basis for later academic and literacy development (Fey, Catts, & Larrivee, 1995). Research also suggests Hispanics/Latinos(as) and African-Americans have lower levels of literacy than other groups in the United States (Ortiz, 1989; Martinez, 1987) for a variety of reasons including social and educational inequalities (Cranston-Gingras & Anderson, 1990; Ruiz, 1999). As normally developing Latinos(as) are considered "at risk" academically (Ortiz, 1989), Latino(a) children exhibiting language disorders, are therefore, at greater risk.

Most typically developing children acquire certain emergent literacy skills before beginning school, such as; knowledge about the front of the book, left to right print orientation, knowledge about letters and words (Clay, 1989), recognizing and reading environmental print (Dickinson & Snow, 1987; Kuby, Aldridge, & Snyder, 1994; Neuman & Roskos, 1993) and alphabet letter recognition (Bishop, 2003; Catts, 2001). According to Johnson (1996), children acquire certain print concepts before beginning school. While this may be true of children without language disorders, this may not be so with children exhibiting language disorders. Due to the high correlation between oral language development and literacy (Snow et al., 1999), it is not surprising that children diagnosed with language disorders will experience difficulty acquiring literacy concepts resulting in reading difficulties (Bishop & Adams, 1990; Catts, 1991; Scarborough, 1991).

There is a paucity of research investigating how Latino(a) preschoolers with language disorders acquire emergent literacy skills. A study by Ezell, Gonzales, and Randolph (2000) suggested typically developing migrant Mexican-American children demonstrated varied performance on their knowledge about concepts regarding print, recognition of environmental print and letter recognition skills. However, their performances appeared to be typical for four-year-old children. Their results also suggested the home literacy environment, rather than the preschool literacy environment, may have contributed more to the emergent literacy skills of migrant Mexican-American children. However, their participant pool consisted of typically developing children. Children diagnosed with language disorders were not included in the study. Hammer, Miccio, and Wagstaff (2003) also investigated the English literacy skills of bilingual preschoolers. However, participants in their study consisted of typically developing simultaneous and sequential bilingual (Spanish/English) learners. No significant differences were found between the simultaneous and sequential bilingual learners on a norm referenced test addressing emergent literacy skills. Neither the Ezell et al. (2000) nor the Hammer et al., (2003) study included children diagnosed with language disorders.