Shared Book Reading Activities Research Articles

Do kindergartens mitigate or exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities in language exposure? The case of home-based and kindergarten-based shared book reading activities in China

Shared book reading is a well-established practice for boosting children’s language exposure and enhancing early development at home and in child care settings. The present study examined the socioeconomic gaps in home-based and kindergarten-based shared book reading practices in China. The participants were 1095 parents and 111 teachers in 69 classes from kindergartens in Chongqing, China. Differences in terms of the quantity of both home-based and kindergarten-based shared book reading across SES spectrums were tested. Multi-level modelling was conducted to examine the factors associated with the quantity of home-based and kindergarten-based shared book reading. The results revealed that the socioeconomic gap in home-based shared book reading and the resultant language exposure were significant. Family SES and home literacy resources were associated with the quantity of home-based shared book reading and the availability of literacy resources in the classroom is associated with the quantity of kindergarten-based shared book reading. Kindergartens did not mitigate the socioeconomic inequities of language exposure related to shared book reading. Intervention programs shall focus on improving access to both home-based and kindergarten-based literacy materials.

Empowering rural early childhood education through shared book reading and school-family-community partnerships

ABSTRACT The YuePu project was a community-based shared book-reading philanthropic project implemented in rural China. It is a literacy project utilized spaces in the rural community and invited parents and teachers to participate in free-of-charge shared book-reading activities with their children on the weekend. The reading activities and instructions were designed by literacy educators. The current qualitative study aimed to investigate, as demonstrated by YuePu, how teachers, parents and other stakeholders connect with each other as partners, creating a community-based project around children aged 3–6 in low-resource areas of China. The results showed that the YuePu implemented a school-family-community partnership to establish a supportive learning environment for children’s education and development. The findings provide implications for promoting community collaboration practices in other low-resource settings.

Collaborative, responsive behavior in peer interaction

Background: Interactive work with children who have unequal cognitive resources and unequal access to language can be challenging. This article explores the collaborative labor involved in establishing alignment between a child with Down syndrome in combination with hearing impairment (DS-HI) and a hearing peer without DS, during a shared interactive book reading activity in an inclusive educational setting. Method: Video recording of children in a naturally occurring, shared book reading activity is analyzed using conversation analysis. The recording took place in the children’s school. Results: The situated shared book reading is regulated by interaction rules. A pattern of collaborative, responsive behavior where the children align to each other’s initiatives is identified within these interaction rules. Discussion and conclusion: The shared book reading format has a scaffolding function in the interaction. The findings illustrate how a typically developing peer is able to align to the sensory and cognitive capacities displayed in the child with DS-HI, and how this facilitates co-created meaning-making in the interaction.

Exploring the impact of a co-designed shared book reading environment for families in a community hub.

Evidence supports the effectiveness of shared book reading for promoting language and literacy development, but it is known that families experiencing vulnerability may have reduced access to books and are less likely to share books regularly at home. Community hubs often provide support to families experiencing vulnerability and may provide an opportunity to create environments that support families to engage in shared book reading, especially if families are invited into the creation of these environments through co-design. However, there is currently little evidence regarding the impact of co-designing shared book reading environments with families in community settings. The current study is part of a broader project which used co-design to develop a shared book reading environment in collaboration with stakeholders in a community hub. This small-scale study aimed to provide a preliminary evaluation of the impact of this co-designed shared book reading environment at the community hub on (1) the frequency of shared book reading at the hub; (2) participants' confidence and enjoyment of reading with children at the hub; and (3) participants' experiences of shared book reading at the hub. The co-design project was carried out in four phases with families, staff and community partners at the community hub. A convergent mixed-methods approach was used to collect and analyse quantitative and qualitative data in the first and last phase of the project to evaluate project outcomes. Quantitative data (environmental observations of reading at the hub and participant ratings of confidence and enjoyment of reading with children at the hub) were analysed using descriptive statistics and nonparametric statistical tests. Qualitative data (participants' responses regarding their experiences of changes implemented in the community hub) were analysed using inductive content analysis. An increased frequency of shared book reading was observed within the community hub after changes were implemented, and positive changes in enjoyment of book reading were recorded. Qualitative responses from participants following conclusion of the project were organised into three main categories, which showed that (1) children and families were reading more and enjoying reading activities that were happening; (2) children and families were borrowing more books; and (3) families had changed the way they were reading at home with their children. A co-designed shared book reading environment within a community hub had a positive impact on shared book reading experiences for families in areas with high levels of vulnerability. What is already known on this subject Community hubs provide a unique opportunity to support early language and literacy development in partnership with families in areas of vulnerability; however, there is limited literature investigating the impacts of these supports. A previous study utilised co-design to develop a shared book reading environment with stakeholders at a community hub in an area where a high proportion of children are considered to be 'vulnerable' in terms of language and literacy development. It was found that co-design enabled the development of collaborative changes to support shared book reading that were valued and owned by families, staff and community partners at the community hub. What this study adds The current study focused on evaluating the impact of a co-design project on the frequency of shared book reading at the hub and participants' experiences, confidence and enjoyment of reading with children at the hub. Analysis of pre- and post-data provide preliminary evidence that a co-designed shared book reading environment in a community hub can have a positive impact on increasing families' awareness and engagement with book borrowing, engagement in shared book reading activities in the community and at home, and participants' confidence and enjoyment of reading with children. What are the clinical implications of this work? Speech pathologists have an important role to play in prevention and promotion. This study has shown that collaboration with families experiencing vulnerability can support the implementation of strategies to promote shared reading in a community hub and demonstrate increased quality and frequency of shared book reading. The utilisation of a community hub also highlights the opportunities for the speech pathology profession to deliver community-based promotion and prevention initiatives as a strategy to address equitable language outcomes.

Examination of Factors That Predict Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge of Children Who Attend Head Start Programs

Income-based childcare programs provide children access to developmentally appropriate and vocabulary-rich literacy experiences. For this study, participating Head Start Centers requested families complete a weekly home literacy log to encourage vocabulary-rich shared book reading activities in the home. Using participant characteristics, including literacy log competition, this study examined which factors adequately predicted vocabulary growth as measured by Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–Fourth Edition standard scores. Results indicated that vocabulary increased significantly for children who were enrolled in participating Head Start Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) programs. Important predictors of the magnitude of vocabulary growth during an academic year included sex, language(s) spoken in the home, and completion of home literacy logs. Clinical implications of this study would warrant recommending home literacy logs as a component of holistic Head Start programming, as completion of literacy logs emerged as an important variable in predicting the magnitude of vocabulary growth second only to race and sex.

Embedding key word sign prompts in a shared book reading activity: The impact on communication between children with Down syndrome and their parents.

Children with Down syndrome have speech and language difficulties that are disproportionate to their overall intellectual ability and relative strengths in the use of gesture. Shared book reading between parents and their children provides an effective context in which language development can be facilitated. However, children with Down syndrome often take a passive role in shared book reading and the use of key word signing (KWS) as a shared book reading technique has never been investigated. This study aimed to compare children with Down syndrome's participation and use of KWS across two methods of shared book reading - one in which a book had key-word sign prompts embedded (signed condition) and the other in which a book was read as normal (unsigned condition). Measures of child and parent communicative behaviour were taken in each condition to establish if differences emerged. A total of 36 children with Down syndrome (aged between 18 and 61 months) and their mothers took part in the study. Parent-child dyads were videoed at home reading two books, one in a signed and one in an unsigned condition. Child measures included total number of signs produced in each condition and levels of attention and initiation as measured by the Pivotal Behaviour Rating Scale. Parent measures included total number of utterances, mean length of utterance (MLU) in morphemes and vocabulary diversity (VOCD). Parental measures were transcribed using the Codes for Human Analysis Transcripts (CHAT) software and analysed by the Computerised Language Analysis software (CLAN). Contrasts in outcomes between the signed and unsigned conditions were estimated using Poisson and linear mixed-effects models, determined by the type of data. Results showed that children attempted to sign significantly more in the signed than unsigned condition, as well as showing significant increases in their levels of attention and initiation. There was also a significant increase in the total number of utterances used by parents in the signed versus unsigned condition and a decrease in MLU. VOCD was similar in both conditions. This study shows that the simple act of embedding key word signs into commercially available books, during shared book reading between parents and young children with Down syndrome, positively affects children's participation (initiation and attention) and use of KWS. The use of KWS as a core shared book reading technique may therefore be a fruitful avenue to facilitate growth in the language abilities of young children with Down syndrome. What is already known on this subject Most children with Down syndrome have significant speech and language difficulties, with relative strengths in the use of gesture. Shared book reading is an activity reported to positively affect language. However, children with Down syndrome are reported to take a passive role in shared book reading and are therefore more dependent on their parents to use techniques that facilitate their levels of participation, in order to maximise potential benefits. To the best of our knowledge, the communicative effects of embedding key word signing (KWS) in shared book reading have never been examined with children with Down syndrome. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This is the first study to investigate the communicative impact of parents embedding KWS in a shared book reading activity with their young children with Down syndrome. Our findings show that this relatively simple manipulation resulted in Increase in children's sign attempts. Increase in children's overall participation in shared book reading (indicated by levels of attention and initiation). Increase in the number of utterances produced by parents (primarily as a result of repetitions). Decrease in parental mean length of utterance. These findings suggest that embedding KWS in shared book reading is likely to facilitate increased language abilities in this cohort. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Shared book reading is part of the daily routine for many parents and their children with Down syndrome. Integrating KWS is a relatively simple adaptation to this activity which is likely to enhance children's language skills. Therapists can encourage parents to do this at home to support work carried out at school and in a clinical setting.

Shared Book Reading in Early Childhood Education: Effect of Two Approaches on Children’s Language Competence, Story Comprehension, and Causal Reasoning

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effect of traditional interactive reading and interactive reading using mindmaps on children’s language competence and their story comprehension and causal reasoning. Furthermore, we explored teachers’ dialogic scaffolding in the two approaches and investigated the relation between teachers’ dialogic scaffolding and children’s causal reasoning. In total, 7 early childhood teachers and their 176 pupils participated. Classrooms were randomly assigned to the traditional interactive reading group or the interactive reading using mindmaps group. Before and after a six-week intervention, children’s language competence was measured using tests for thematic vocabulary, narrative competence, and critical listening. In addition, story comprehension was measured with a short questionnaire and children’s causal reasoning and teachers’ dialogic scaffolding were assessed by coding videos of shared book reading activities. Outcomes indicated that children significantly improved their language competence over the course of the study, independent of the group to which they were assigned. In addition, findings showed that children’s causal reasoning was partly related to teachers’ dialogic scaffolding.

A trial of online ABRACADABRA literacy instruction with supplementary parent-led shared book reading for children with autism

Background/aimsThe COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for accessible support for children with developmental disabilities. This study explored online literacy instruction with supplementary parent-led shared book reading (SBR) for children with autism. MethodsTwenty-one children with autism (5–12 years) completed a battery of assessments (T1) before being assigned to ability matched Instruction (n = 10) and Control groups (n = 11). Instruction group participants completed 16 h of ABRACADABRA instruction working with a researcher 1:1 online and SBR activities at home with a parent over 8 weeks. All participants were reassessed after the instruction period (T2) and parents of children in the Instruction group were interviewed regarding their views and experiences. ResultsQuantitative analyses showed no significant improvements in reading for Instruction group children relative to Control group children. However, each child successfully participated in 16 online instruction sessions and qualitative data revealed that parents were generally positive about the program, with some observing improvements in their child’s literacy skills and reading confidence. Conclusions and ImplicationsWhile it appears children with autism can participate in online literacy instruction, sixteen hours of online ABRACADABRA instruction with parent-led SBR may not be effective in improving their reading skills. Further research is required to explore whether more intensive and/or extended online instruction may be feasible and effective, and to improve uptake of parent-led book reading activities at home.

Effects of Experiential Learning on Students’ Use of Facilitative Language Techniques during Shared Book Reading with Young Children

The purpose of this pilot study was to measure the effects of experiential learning on graduate students’ use of facilitative language techniques (FLTs) to support language development in young children from a high poverty population. Seven CSD graduate students who participated in a language seminar received direct instruction in and experiential learning with 11 FLTs. The students implemented the learned techniques during an 8-week experience in the community while providing shared book reading activities for children at a local family shelter. Results indicated that the students made significant gains in the number and type of FLTs used during book reading activities. The findings suggest that experiential learning yielded clinically significant changes in the graduate students’ use of FLTs during shared book reading with young children. Implications are provided for further research.

Validity and reliability study of the parent-child shared book reading inventory

This study aimed to adapt the original form of the “Parent-Child Shared Book Reading Survey” developed by Cutler (2020) to Turkish and to test its validity and reliability. During the adaptation process, the survey was translated into Turkish first, and then the expert opinion was sought for validity, followed by back translation. The adapted inventory was finalized after the pilot implementation. The validity study of the Parent-Child Shared Book Reading Inventory included testing the factor analysis assumptions for the following five questionnaires included in the inventory: Reading Skills Beliefs Scale for Shared Book Reading, Parents’ Reading and Writing Habits Scale, Parents’ Modeling for Reading-Writing Habits Scale, Shared Book Reading Activity Scale and Child’s Reading Habits Scale. Then exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was implemented to 332 parents with preschool children. The accuracy of the factor structures revealed by EFA was tested on a second data set with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on 158 parents. The results demonstrated that the Parent-Child Shared Book Reading Inventory is a valid and reliable measurement tool in assessing the quality and characteristic of parent-child shared book reading activities.

Building Comprehension Skills of Young Children With Autism One Storybook at a Time.

Purpose Reading involves the ability to decode and draw meaning from printed text. Reading skill profiles vary widely among learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One fairly common pattern is relative strength in decoding combined with weak comprehension skills-indicators of this profile emerge as early as the preschool years. In order for children with ASD to develop a facility with language that prepares them for reading success, practitioners must intentionally create and provide appropriate instruction practices. Method In this tutorial, we describe ways in which practitioners can support language development and comprehension skills for children with ASD within the context of shared reading activities. We begin by providing known information about the reading performance of children with ASD using the Simple View of Reading as our guiding conceptual framework. Next, we present a number of practical, evidence-based strategies that educators can implement within the context of shared book reading activities. Case studies are embedded throughout the tutorial to demonstrate how practitioners may apply these strategies in their instructional settings. Conclusions Shared book reading interventions are a well-studied, developmentally appropriate approach for bringing about change in language and literacy in early childhood. The success of shared reading depends upon rich communication and interaction between the adult reader and the child. Many children with ASD will require strategies to support social communication and emergent literacy skill development (e.g., vocabulary knowledge, language comprehension) that are specifically linked to future reading comprehension.

Maternal Input and Child Language Comprehension During Book Reading in Children With Down Syndrome.

Purpose Communication interactions between parents and children during shared book reading impact a child's development of both language and literacy skills. This study examined maternal language input and child expressive communication during a shared book reading activity in children with Down syndrome (DS) and children with typical development (TD). Additionally, children's receptive language was examined to understand the relationship between maternal language input and child receptive language ability. Method Participants included 22 children with DS and 22 children with TD between 22 and 63 months of age and their mothers. Each mother-child dyad participated in a 7-min naturalistic shared book reading activity. Results Compared to mothers of children with TD, mothers of children with DS used significantly more utterances with less grammatical complexity, but a similar range of vocabulary diversity. Mothers of children with DS used more questions, descriptions, gestures, and labels, whereas mothers of children with TD used nearly half of their utterances to read directly from books. Children with DS communicated at a similar frequency compared to their peers with TD; however, they produced significantly fewer spoken words. Conclusions This study reveals important differences between early shared book reading interactions and provides implications for future research targeting parent-coached intervention strategies that may enhance children's learning during shared book reading by providing access to expressive language and print instruction.

Book-Reading Engagement in Children with Autism and Language Impairment: Associations with Emergent-Literacy Skills.

Emergent-literacy skills are frequently taught within social interactions in preschool classrooms such as shared book reading. Children with impaired language and/or social engagement may have difficulty accessing these learning opportunities. Therefore, we sought to investigate the relationship between book-reading orientation during a teacher-led shared book reading activity and emergent-literacy skill development across three groups of preschool children; autism (n = 22), developmental language disorder (DLD; n = 23), and typical development (TD; n = 58). The children with autism demonstrated less book-reading orientation than their DLD and TD peers. Book-reading orientation was a significant predictor of residualized gains in print-concept knowledge and phonological awareness. Thus, book-reading orientation appears to play a critical role in preschooler's emergent-literacy skill development.

Teachers’ Literal and Inferential Talk in Early Childhood and Special Education Classrooms

ABSTRACTResearch Findings: This study examined preschool teachers’ literal talk (LT) and inferential talk (IT) during shared book readings in early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms. We aimed to characterize and compare teachers’ LT and IT in these 2 classroom contexts and determine whether differences in LT and IT are predicted by classroom type, teachers’ educational background, or children’s average language skills. We examined the shared book reading activities of 52 teachers (26 ECE classrooms, 26 ECSE classrooms). Results revealed that ECSE teachers used significantly more LT and showed more variability in their LT and IT than ECE teachers. ECSE classroom type predicted teachers’ use of LT when we controlled for teacher education and children’s language skills, whereas teacher education predicted teachers’ use of IT when we controlled for classroom type and children’s language skills. Practice or Policy: These findings have implications for best practice guidelines and policies, particularly for ECSE environments.

Distance delivery of a parent-implemented language intervention for young boys with fragile X syndrome.

In addition to significant cognitive delays, boys with fragile X syndrome display phenotypic characteristics that include delays in language, inattention, social anxiety, and escape-maintained challenging behaviors. Despite these challenges, families affected by fragile X syndrome often have limited access to center-based intervention programs. The present study utilized a multiple baseline design across participants to examine the preliminary effectiveness of a 12-week, parent-implemented spoken language intervention for three 5- to 7-year-old boys with fragile X syndrome. The goal of the intervention was to teach the biological mothers of each boy to use a set of verbally responsive language support strategies while participating in shared book reading activities with her child. All aspects of the intervention, including pre- and post-treatment measures, were delivered into the family's home via distance video teleconferencing. Results from this study provide preliminary support for the efficacy of this parent-implemented language intervention approach by demonstrating generalized improvements in both targeted maternal strategy use and measures of child spoken language. The present study expands upon prior language intervention research utilizing distance delivery of services for families affected by fragile X syndrome. Additionally, the study provides early support for the feasibility of collecting pre- and post-treatment assessments at a distance.

Young Children With ASD: Parent Strategies for Interaction During Adapted Book Reading Activity

The purpose of this study was to identify how parents’ use of language and literacy strategies during an adapted shared book reading activity relate to social, behavioral, and cognitive skills for their children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants were 111 young children (ages 4–7 years) with ASD and their mothers. A factor analysis of the items used in the coding system, yielded a four-factor model of parent-led behaviors during the shared book reading activity: clarification, feedback, teaching, and evocative techniques. In regression analyses, the frequency of parents’ use of clarification, feedback, and evocative strategies used during the shared reading task were related to certain demographic and child factors. Results have implications for the types of structure and support that parents might provide their young children with ASD during informal reading sessions.

Improving Preschool Educators' Interactive Shared Book Reading: Effects of Coaching in Professional Development

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of coaching by speech-language pathologists on educators' interactive shared book reading, children's participation in shared reading, and children's language development. Thirty-two educators and small groups of preschoolers were randomly assigned to experimental and comparison groups. The experimental group (n = 15) received 4 in-service workshops plus 5 individualized coaching sessions. The comparison group received only the 4 workshops. Participants were video-recorded during a shared book reading activity with a small group of children at pretest and posttest. The video recordings were transcribed and coded to yield measures of conversations, educators' questions, and children's responses. The mean length of utterances of the children's responses was also calculated. There were no significant Time × Group interaction effects for the number and length of shared reading conversations or for the number of participants in these conversations. However, significant Time × Group interactions were observed for the use of educators' experiential reasoning questions, children's experiential reasoning responses, and the mean length of utterances of children's responses. These results suggest that coaching increases educators' use of inferential questions, enhancing an interactive shared-reading strategy that had a direct impact on the children's quality and complexity of language.

Exploring story grammar structure in the book reading interactions of African American mothers and their preschool children: a pilot investigation.

The aim of this investigation was to identify the book reading behaviors and book reading styles of middle class African American mothers engaged in a shared book reading activity with their preschool children. To this end, the mothers and their children were videotaped reading one of three books, Julius, Grandfather and I, or Somewhere in Africa. Both maternal and child behaviors were coded for the frequency of occurrence of story grammar elements contained in their stories and maternal behaviors were also coded for their use of narrative eliciting strategies. In addition, mothers were queried about the quality and quantity of book reading/story telling interactions in the home environment. The results suggest that there is a great deal of individual variation in how mothers use the story grammar elements and narrative eliciting strategies to engage their children in a shared book reading activity. Findings are discussed in terms of suggestions for additional research and practical applications are offered on ways to optimally engage African American preschool children and African American families from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in shared book reading interactions.

Expanding the boundaries of shared book reading: E-books and printed books in parent–child reading as support for children’s language

Early shared book reading activities are considered to be a promising context for supporting young children’s language development. Ninety low socioeconomic status preschoolers and their mothers were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) e-book reading; (2) printed book reading; (3) regular kindergarten literacy program (control). Mothers of children in the intervention groups received guidance on how to read to their child, and had five sessions of reading within a period of two weeks. The final session was videotaped and transcribed. Children in both intervention groups showed significant progress in word comprehension and phonological awareness compared to the control group. Children’s initial knowledge in each skill and both interventions contributed to language progress more than maternal education, frequency of shared book reading and computer use. The authors conclude that parents and children may expand their shared book reading experience to include e-books, which may serve as promising contexts for developing young children’s language.

Preliminary evidence suggests that Visual Scene Displays and Grids both support shared book reading activities in young children

This review provides a summary and appraisal commentary on the treatment review by Wood Jackson, C., Wahlquist, J., & Marquis, C. (2011). Visual supports for shared reading with young children: The effect of static overlay design. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 27, 91–102. Source of funding and disclosure of interest: No source of funding reported, and no conflicts of interest reported by the original authors of this research report.