CONTEMPORARY CHILDHOOD: WHAT HAPPENS EARLY REALLY MATTERS

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CONTEMPORARY CHILDHOOD WHAT HAPPENS EARLY
REALLY MATTERS

• G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D.
• National Institute of Child Health and Human
  Development

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• How do children develop language abilities?
• How do children develop social competencies?
• How can we foster childrens emotional health?
• How do children learn to read?
• Why do some children have difficulties learning
  to read?
• How can we prevent reading difficulties?
• How can we remediate reading difficulties?

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NICHD Reading Research Program
Childrens Hospital/ Harvard LDRC Waber
University of Washington Berninger
Univ of Massachusetts Rayner
Emerson College Aram
Toronto Lovett
Beth Israel Galaburda
Mayo Clinic Kalusic
Tufts Wolf
Ya le Shaywitz
Syracuse Univ Blachman
Haskins Labs Fowler/Liberman
San Luis Ebispo Lindamood/Bell
SUNY Albany Vellutino
Loyola Univ Chicago Morrison
Johns Hopkins Denckla
Boys Town Smith
Univ of Southern California Manis/Seidenberg
D.C./Houston Forman/Moats
Colorado LDRC Defries
Univ of Missouri Geary
Southern Illinois Univ Moltese
Georgetown Univ Eden
Univ of California IrvineFilipek
Bowman Gray Wood
Univ of California San Diego, Salk
Institute Bellugi
Univ of Arkansas Med Ctr Dykman
Georgia State R. Morris
Univ of Georgia Hynd
Univ of Houston Francis
Yale Methodology Fletcher
Florida State Torgesen/Wagner
Univ of Florida Alexander/Conway
Univ of Texas Med Ctr Foorman/Fletcher
NICHD Sites
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OUR YOUNGEST CITIZENS WILL SURPRISE US

• Infants, Toddlers, and preschoolers can learn
  more than we ever thought possible
• From birth to age 3 the brains of children are
  rapidly forming connections between neural cells
• The quality and degree of connections between
  neural cells are established through the the
  quality of interactions the child has with
  adults, other children, and the environment
• Infants before the age of 6 months can perceive
  and express all sounds of all languages spoken on
  the planet

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OUR YOUNGEST CITIZENS WILL SURPRISE US

• Depending on the environment, vocabulary
  development accelerates rapidly during the second
  year of life.
• Under the right circumstances, most 18 month olds
  (on average) learn 9 new words a day, every day,
  throughout the preschool years
• By 3 years of age the child can speak in full
  sentences

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The Role of the Environment and Early Experience
on Language Development

• Language development requires an interplay
  between genes, biology, and environmental factors
• Poverty and disadvantage reduce the quantity and
  quality of interactions with language
• Limited language interactions in the home
  environment place children at severe risk for
  school failure, particularly in reading
• Cultural influences every aspect of human
  development and must be considered in the design
  and implementation of any program

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Environmental Influences

• By kindergarten a child from disadvantage
  typically has twice the vocabulary as a youngster
  born into poverty
• The typical 5-year-old from an urban environment
  and disadvantaged home enters kindergarten at the
  5th percentile in vocabulary
• By age 16 advantaged children have four times the
  vocabulary as children born into poverty

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Major Sources of Reading Failure

• Socioeconomic Factors Poverty
• Biological Factors Genetics and Neurobiology
• Instructional Factors Predominate

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How Do Children Learn to Read?The Influence of
Early Language and Literacy Experiences

• Differences in exposure to words over one year
  can predict substantial difficulties in oral
  language and reading development

• Children in Professional Families 11 million
• Children in Working-class Families 6 million
• Children in Welfare Families 3 million

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Mean Number of Interactions Initiated per Hour
Mean Number of Minutes per Interaction per Hour
50
Professional
40
42
Professional
Working-class
Welfare
Working-class
30
33
29
28.5
26
Welfare
20
18
10
0
Hart and Risley, 1995
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Cumulative Language Experiences
Cumulative Words Spoken to Child (in millions)
50
Professional
48
40
Working-class
30
30
20
12
Welfare
12
10
7.5
3
0
0
12
24
36
48
Age of Child (in months)
Hart and Risley, 1995
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The Effects of Weaknesses in Oral Language on
Reading Growth
Reading Age Level
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
High Oral Language in Kindergarten
5.2 years difference
Low Oral Language in Kindergarten
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Chronological Age
Hirsch, 1996
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Percent of 4th Grade Students Performing Below
Basic Level - 37
White
27
Black
63
Hispanic
58
Poor
60
Non-poor
26
Percent Performing Below the Basic Reading Level
National Center for Educational Statistics, 2003
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WHAT DO KIDS NEED TO KNOW TO READ?

• A HECK OF A LOT

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WHAT DO KIDS NEED TO KNOW TO READ FOR MEANING?
Accurate and fluent word reading skills
Oral language skills (vocabulary, linguistic
comprehension)
Extent of conceptual and factual knowledge
Knowledge and skill in use of cognitive
strategies to improve comprehension or repair it
when it breaks down.
Reasoning and inferential skills
Motivation to understand and interest in task and
materials
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VIDEO
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Life Experience Content Knowledge Activation of
Prior Knowledge Knowledge about Texts
Oral Language Skills Knowledge of Language
Structures Vocabulary Cultural Influences
Reading Comprehension
Prosody Automaticity / Rate Accuracy Decoding Phon
emic Awareness
Motivation Engagement Active Reading
Strategies Monitoring Strategies Fix-Up Strategies
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Early Intervention is Possible

• Risk characteristics present in Preschool,
  Kindergarten and G1
• Print awareness, Letter knowledge, letter-sound
  knowledge, phonological awareness, oral language
  development, vocabulary, background knowledge
• Assess all children and INTERVENE

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Early Intervention is Clearly Effective

• Prevention studies commonly show that 70- 90 of
  at risk children (bottom 20) in K- 2 can learn
  to read in average range

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Outcomes from 67.5 Hours of Intensive LiPSTM
Intervention
Standard Score
100
30
90
80
70
Word Attack
Text ReadingAccuracy
Reading Comprehension
Text Reading Rate
Torgesen, 2003
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Hartsfield Elementary School Progress Over Five
Years
40
Proportion falling below the 25th percentile in
word reading ability at the end of 1st grade
30
20
10
1995 1996
Torgesen, Alexander et al., 2001
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Hartsfield Elementary ProgressOver Five Years
40
Proportion falling below the 25th percentile in
word reading ability at the end of first grade
30
20
10
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Average Percentile 48.9 55.2
61.4 73.5 81.7 for entire grade
(n105)
King Torgesen (in press)
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The consensus view of most important
instructional features for interventions
Instructional interactions and Interventions are
more effective when they

• Provide systematic and explicit instruction on
  whatever component skills are deficient phonemic
  awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading
  comprehension strategies
• Provide a significant increase in intensity of
  instruction
• Provide ample opportunities for guided practice
  of new skills
• Provide appropriate levels of scaffolding as
  children learn to apply new skills

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Reading stimulates general cognitive growth
particularly verbal skills
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Meanwhile, Back in the Brain
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Why Do Some Children Have Difficulties Learning
to Read?
Kindergarten
Left Hemisphere
Right Hemisphere
S1 At risk
150-300 300-1000 ms
Time after Stimulus Onset
S31 Not at risk
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Kindergarten
Left Hemisphere
Right Hemisphere
S1 At risk
150-300 300-1000 ms
Time after Stimulus Onset
S31 Not at risk
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At Risk Reader
Left Hemisphere
Right Hemisphere
Kindergarten 1st Grade
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LEARNING, LITERACY AND THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA
SOME SUGGESTIONS

• Base everything you do on converging scientific
  evidence on how children learn, why some children
  have a tough time, and what can be done about
  that
• Avoid at all costs the development of media for
  children on the basis of untested philosophies,
  assumptions, anecdotes, and lousy research
• Try to avoid getting caught up in either-or
  debates they are stupid and not productive
• Make sure you evaluate the effectiveness of any
  products through the application of the
  appropriate research methods and designs

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A CHILDS LIFE LEARNING, LITERACY AND THE ROLE
OF THE MEDIA

• G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D.
• National Institute of Child Health and Human
  Development