Tender Shoots: Effects of a Preschool Shared Book Reading Preventive Intervention on Parent–Child Reading and Parents’ Involvement in the First Year of School

Shika Das,Sarah Timperley,Jane Carroll,Elizabeth Schaughency,Jessica Riordan,Elaine Reese

doi:10.1007/s12310-022-09505-6

Abstract

Parent–child interactive shared reading can benefit young children’s language and emergent literacy skills; however, studies of programs to enhance shared reading often do not evaluate lasting effects after the transition to primary school. In this randomized control study, 69 parents of 3.5–4.5-year-old children participated in one of three conditions for an evaluation of the 6-week Tender Shoots program: Rich Reading and Reminiscing (RRR), Strengthening Sound Sensitivity (SSS), or Activity-Based Control (ABC). Parents in both Tender Shoots conditions, SSS and RRR, were taught to read interactively with their children and were provided with books to support implementation. RRR targeted meaning-related talk likely to enhance vocabulary and comprehension, whereas SSS targeted sound-related talk to enhance phonological awareness. Children in ABC were provided with resources and materials for developmentally appropriate activities. Fifty-three dyads (77%) were followed after children started primary school and formal literacy instruction. Comparisons of shared reading interactions at follow-up indicated that parents and children in the RRR and SSS groups still used more condition-specific targeted talk than those in other groups. Most parents in shared reading groups reported that they continued to use project activities after children had started school, although parents in RRR reported more frequent use of program activities than the active control, ABC. Moreover, parents in RRR sometimes reported higher levels of some broad involvement dimensions. These findings suggest that shared reading programs as delivered here can have long-lasting effects on extratextual talk during shared reading and may enhance aspects of parents’ involvement with children’s education.

Highlights

Research indicates that children from diverse backgrounds come to school with differing language and emergent literacy skills predictive of later school achievement (Greenwood et al, 2017)
We investigate whether the skills learned in two shared reading conditions are still being used by parents and children, relative to a non-shared reading control condition, that children are in their first year of school and have begun formal literacy instruction
78.3% were from Rich Reading and Reminiscing (RRR), 63.6% from Sound Sensitivity (SSS), and 75.0% from Activity-Based Control (ABC)

Summary

Introduction

Research indicates that children from diverse backgrounds come to school with differing language and emergent literacy skills predictive of later school achievement (Greenwood et al, 2017) This knowledge has led to initiatives designed to foster children’s language competencies before school, often resulting in positive initial gains (Greenwood et al, 2017; Petscher et al, 2020). These evaluations, often do not follow children’s progress after the transition to school, and those that do show mixed effectiveness depending on the initial program and how parents and teachers continue to build on children’s learning (Dowdall et al, 2020; Sarama & Clements, 2018). It is important to investigate whether and under what circumstances parent-mediated preventive interventions for preschool children continue to demonstrate benefits after the transition to formal schooling, and whether they impact parents’ involvement in children’s learning and their relationships with schools more broadly

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