|
|
Session 1: Dr. Grover Whitehurst
"Preparing Children in Even Start to Learn to Read"
| Dr. Whitehurst is Professor of Clinical Psychology and Pediatrics at SUNY Stony Brook and Chair of the Psychology Department. His research focuses on determinants of literacy success in children from low-income backgrounds and the nature and consequences of early language delay. Dialogic reading techniques that he developed are widely used by parents and teachers all over the world. At the national level, he currently serves as a member of the National Research Council's Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy, and the Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Head Start Research and Evaluation. |
Dr. Whitehurst described the clash between home and school in helping children to read. In many instances parents simply do not know how to assist in the reading process at home. This happens especially in low-income settings where interaction around books may occur infrequently. Specific concerns in the low-income settings were:
| Social Class and Emergent Literacy |
- Lower frequency of book interactions
- Lower level parent-child interactions during shared reading
- Fewer alphabet materials
- Less optimal linguistic interactions in homes and pre schools
|
| Skills and Knowledge |
- Lower semantic and pragmatic language skills
- Lower letter knowledge
- Lower phonological awareness
|
| Stability of Early Reading Deficiencies |
- Individual differences in school performance are relatively stable from Kindergarten through high school.
|
In order to improve this condition, Dr. Whitehurst's assumption is that interventions need to focus on Emergent Literacy, defined as skill, knowledge, and attitudinal precursors to formal reading and writing as well as the environments that support these precursors. The first stage of the model shows an emergent literacy environment, which is then coupled with emergent literacy skills and emergent literacy attitudes, which in turn produce reading.
Dr. Whitehurst's model divides the emergent literacy and literacy process into five specific units that then become a part of what is described as Outside-In and Inside-Out skills. It is the development of these skills in combination that leads to the ability to read.
Inside-Out Skills address the elements of print awareness, linguistic awareness and emergent writing as important steps to letter sounds. Development of these skills eventually leads to reading and writing. Examples of these skills are knowing the difference between print and pictures on a page, rhyming and copying. An additional skill is knowing print units or graphemes which (letters of the alphabet) and how they are arranged in writing, e.g., right to left arrangement across the page.
Outside-In Skills address semantic units/concepts and contextual units/narrative. The midpoint of the Outside-In/Inside Out continuum is language units or words. All of this must be integrated in order for reading to occur. In Dr. Whitehurst's research on the developmental course of emergent literacy and literacy in children from low-income families, there is a strong
correlation (.78) between Inside-Out and Outside-In skills at age four. However, this relationship decreases to (.21) at age five. Dr. Whitehurst's research finds that as children move through the early grades, they are learning to sound out words more than reading to understand and learn. It is for this reason that children's knowledge of inside-our skills, e.g. letter names and sounds, during late preschool is a critical foundation for early reading success. Outside-in skills such as vocabulary are increasingly important in reading success from grade 3 forward. Giving children both a strong language base and knowledge of letters, sounds, and print are the challenge for Even Start.
Dr Whitehurst provided the following resources:
- Emergent Literacy – Assumption and Definition
- Social Class and Emergent Literacy
- Emergent Literacy and Literacy (Outside-In / In-Side-Out)
- Structural Model of Literacy Outcomes through 3rd Grade of Preschoolers from Low income families
- From Emergent Literacy to Literacy: Inside-Out Skills
- "Starting Our Right: A Guide to Promoting Children's Reading Success" National Research Council cover page.
- "Phonemic Awareness in Young Children: A Classroom Curriculum" Marilyn Jager Adam, Ph.D., Barbara Forman, Ph.D., Ingvar Lundbert, Ph.D. and Terri Beeler, Ed.D. Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co. cover page
- "Sounds Abound Listening Rhyming and Reading," LinguiSystems, Inc
Dr. Whitehurst's second topic addressed Dialogic Reading, which is "just children and adults having a conversation about a book." Diagnostic Reading is a proven technique for increasing children's outside-in skills such as vocabulary and knowledge of narrative forms. The reading technique involves the use of the P.E.E.R. sequence. The adult Prompts a child then Evaluates the response, Expands the response and then Repeats the prompt at a later point in the reading. The various types of prompts were then expanded upon.
| The mnemonic C.R.O.W.D. is used as a reminder for the various types of prompts. |
- Completion prompt- words are left out and the child completes
- Recall prompt – what happened in the book a child has read
- Open-ended prompt – no single correct answer as in pictures
- W-prompt – what, where, when, why with picture book focus
- Distancing prompts – relation of pictures and words to real life
|
The goal is to make reading a pleasurable part of the Even Start family literacy program. It is important to follow the child's lead because reading should be an emotionally pleasing experience for the child. These techniques have been taught to adults using one-on-one instruction and with instructional videotapes. According to Whitehurst the instructional tapes have provided the greatest success and lasting effect.
One of the major factors impacting this instruction is the frequency of interaction. The interaction must be rich in language to be successful. This does not mean adults giving directions but rather adults having conversations with children in groups of four and five. The success of this technique is seen in higher and longer vocabulary sustained over one year beyond the program completion. The success of this reading technique has been documented in the
research. Instructional videotapes using the Dialogic Reading Techniques have shown a higher success rate than using one-on-one teaching methods with an adult.
Dr. Whitehurst provided the following resources:
Principles of Dialogic Reading – Dr. Grover J. Whitehurst
|
