Use of Storybook Reading to Increase Print Awareness in At-Risk Children

TLDR

This study evaluated the impact of participation in book‑reading sessions with a print focus on print awareness in preschool children from low‑income households. Thirty Head Start preschoolers were matched by age, randomly assigned to experimental or control groups, and each group completed 24 shared‑reading sessions over eight weeks, with the experimental group receiving print‑focused instruction and the control group receiving picture‑focused instruction, after pre‑ and post‑testing of print awareness. Post‑testing showed that children in the print‑focused group outperformed controls on three print‑awareness measures—Words in Print, Print Recognition, and Alphabet Knowledge—and overall.

Abstract

This study evaluated the impact of participation in book-reading sessions with a print focus on print awareness in preschool children from low- income households. A book-reading intervention was conducted for 30 children enrolled in Head Start. Children were matched on chronological age and then randomly placed into an experimental or control group. Pretest measures of children's print awareness were administered. Subsequently, children in both groups participated in 24 small-group reading sessions over an 8-week period. Children in the experimental group participated in shared reading sessions that included a print focus. As an alternate condition, control-group children participated in shared reading sessions with a picture focus. Posttesting indicated that children who participated in print- focus reading sessions outperformed their control- group peers on three measures of print awareness (Words in Print, Print Recognition, and Alphabet Knowledge) and in terms of overall performance. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.