Strategies to support language arts and emerging literacy skills

In this excerpt, learn how to ensure that your child enters kindergarten with the prerequisite literacy skills necessary to learn how to read. Read More

The Parent’s Role inDeveloping Children’s Comprehension

This chapter explores several aspects of parental support for comprehension in prereaders by intertwining child language and literacy development with research. Read More

Coach/Supervisor Observation Checklist Instructions

Effective professional development should be supportive, intensive, and continuous, with individualized feedback and positive mentoring. This checklist from PAVEd for Success is designed for a 90-minute classroom observation. Read More

Identifying Early Literacy Learning Needs

In this chapter excerpt, read about emergent literacy state standards, purposeful assessment of emergent literacy skills, and education implications like universal screening, instructional planning, and progress monitoring. Read More

Intervention to Equalize Early Experience

This final chapter of Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children explores the authors' conclusions from their groundbreaking word gap study and proposes strategies for leveling the playing field. Read More

Revving up for reading: What is the importance of early comprehension?

Find out in this Q&A with Sabra Gear, Ph.D., the co-editor of Developing Early Comprehension: Laying the Foundation for Reading Success. Read More

A Tribute: Remembering the Work and Accomplishments of Dr. Betty Hart

Dr. Hart's work has had a significant impact on the early childhood field. It has provided researchers, early interventionists, and educators with knowledge about how important early experience is for children’s language development and later literacy. Read more in this tribute to the Brookes author. Read More

Shared book reading: How you can help close the word gap

You can't turn around these days without seeing some reference to the "word gap"—the astonishing difference between the number and quality of words heard by young children in mostly low-income households versus those in higher incomes. There are plenty of wonderful resources to encourage parents to talk, read, and sing with their children, but how about some tips for teachers? If you integrate these steps into your shared book reading time, you will expand children's word and world knowledge, and help them develop the critical comprehension skills they'll need to achieve. Read More

Stimulability Character Cards

These fun illustrated character cards are a handy tool for speech-language pathologists and other school professionals Read More

Teaching adolescent English language learners

English language learners (ELLs) tend to show even lower scores on standardized tests, and the achievement gaps between students of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds remain significant. This chapter excerpt explores the stages of second-language acquisition and provides strategies for teaching EELs. Read More