Examining The Impact Of A Little Book Intervention On The Early Literacy Skills Of Children In Head Start Via The Individual Growth And Development Indicators

Abstract

This study examined whether or not exposure to Rhyme and Letter Little Books
significantly increased the rhyming and initial sound/alliteration recognitiop. skills of
academically at-risk preschool children. Twice a week for eight weeks, stutents in a
Head Start program listened to a researcher present a lesson with either the Rhyme and
Letter Little Books or the original Little Books. It was hypothesized that stjtistically
significant differences in the rhyming and initial sound recognition skills between the two
groups would exist at the end of the intervention because the Rhyme and Lf1ter Little
Books were created to foster phonological awareness skills in pre-readers, fhile the
original Little Books that were designed to make print concepts accessible for prereaders.
The Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDis) were used as a
general outcome measure for pre- and post-testing to expand our knowledge of best
practices under a Response to Intervention (RTI) approach within early education. Two
subtests from the Phonological Abilities Test (PAT) were also used for pre- and post-test
comparisons. Results indicated that growth was observed across each ofth literacy
measures for both conditions from the beginning to the end of the eight-week
intervention. Implications drawn from this exploratory study and towards the field of
early literacy assessment and intervention are discussed.
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Date of Award	2008
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	Eastern Illinois University
Supervisor	Christine McCormick (Supervisor)