Early Social Communication Predictors of Preschool Emergent Literacy Skills in Toddlers 18-24 Months of Age
Learning to read is a major developmental achievement with wide ranging societal, educational, and economic costs associated with low literacy attainment. A robust body of literature has documented the stability and persistence of reading difficulties in early elementary scho...
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| Format: | Others |
| Language: | English English |
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Florida State University
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| Online Access: | http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_FA2016_Reinhardt_fsu_0071E_10751 |
| Summary: | Learning to read is a major developmental achievement with wide ranging societal, educational, and economic costs associated
with low literacy attainment. A robust body of literature has documented the stability and persistence of reading difficulties in early
elementary school, underscoring the importance of identifying and intervening with children at risk early in development, before they
enter formal education. Current efforts to identify children early in development who will require specialized educational support are
missing a significant segment of children, and in turn, the opportunity to intervene early. This study evaluated competing models of the
factor structure of emergent literacy skills and examined predictive relations between social communication skills in the second year of
life and later emergent literacy skills using structural equation modeling (SEM) within a longitudinal sample of preschool children (4–5
years) with diverse early developmental skills. A similar latent structure of emergent literacy skills was found for children with typical
development (TD) and early developmental delay (EDD), yet differences in how specific emergent literacy skills relate to one another were
documented between groups, possibly reflecting differences in emergent literacy development between children with TD and EDD. Analyses
also documented predictive relations between early social communication and preschool emergent literacy skills, supporting the
characterization of literacy development as a continuous developmental process beginning early in life. This study extends the current
literature by documenting relations between early social communication skills in the second year of life and later preschool emergent
literacy skills using a well-characterized longitudinal sample of young children with diverse early developmental
abilities. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Fall Semester 2016. === October 19, 2016. === Includes bibliographical references. === Amy Wetherby, Professor Directing Dissertation; Hugh Catts, University Representative;
Christopher Lonigan, Committee Member; Christopher Schatschneider, Committee Member; Jeanette Taylor, Committee Member. |
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