Post on 11-Jan-2016
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 children’s 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
NICHD Sites
Univ of Arkansas – Med CtrDykman
Univ of MissouriGeary
Colorado LDRCDefries
Loyola Univ – ChicagoMorrison
TorontoLovett
Southern Illinois UnivMoltese
Mayo ClinicKalusic
Boy’s TownSmith
Univ of HoustonFrancis
SUNY AlbanyVellutino
Univ of California – San Diego,
Salk InstituteBellugi
Univ of Texas – Med CtrFoorman/Fletcher
Yale MethodologyFletcher
Emerson CollegeAram
TuftsWolf
Syracuse UnivBlachman
Univ of Massachusetts
Rayner
Beth IsraelGalaburda
Children’s Hospital/Harvard LDRCWaber
Florida StateTorgesen/Wagner
University of WashingtonBerninger
San Luis EbispoLindamood/Bell
Univ of Southern CaliforniaManis/Seidenberg
Univ of California – IrvineFilipek
Bowman GrayWood
Georgetown UnivEden
D.C./HoustonForman/Moats
Johns HopkinsDenckla
Haskins LabsFowler/Liberman
Ya leShaywitz
Univ of GeorgiaHynd
Univ of FloridaAlexander/Conway
Georgia StateR. Morris
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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
Major Sources of Reading Failure
• Socioeconomic Factors – Poverty
• Biological Factors – Genetics and Neurobiology
• Instructional Factors – Predominate
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
Welfare
Working-class
18
26
42
WelfareWorking
-class
29 28.533
Professional
0
10
20
30
40
50
Mean Number of Interactions Initiated
per Hour
0
10
20
30
40
50
Mean Number of Minutes per Interaction
per Hour
Professional
Hart and Risley, 1995
Cumulative Language Experiences
Cumulative Words Spoken to Child (in millions)
0
10
20
30
40
50
0 12 24 36 48
Age of Child (in months)
Professional
Working-class
Welfare
48
30
1212
7.5
3
Hart and Risley, 1995
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
Reading Age Level
Chronological Age
Low Oral Language in Kindergarten
High Oral Language in Kindergarten
Hirsch, 1996
The Effects of Weaknesses in Oral Language on Reading Growth
5.2 years difference
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000
PoorPoor
Non-poorNon-poor
60
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Percent of 4th Grade Students Performing Below Basic Level - 37%
HispanicHispanic 58
BlackBlack 63
WhiteWhite 27
National Center for Educational Statistics, 2003
Percent Performing Below the Basic Reading Level
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WHAT DO KIDS NEED TO KNOW TO
READ?
A HECK OF A LOT
WHAT DO KIDS NEED TO KNOW TO WHAT DO KIDS NEED TO KNOW TO READ FOR MEANING?READ FOR MEANING?
Accurate and fluent word reading skillsAccurate and fluent word reading skills
Oral language skills (vocabulary, linguistic comprehension)Oral language skills (vocabulary, linguistic comprehension)
Extent of conceptual and factual knowledgeExtent of conceptual and factual knowledge
Knowledge and skill in use of cognitive strategies to Knowledge and skill in use of cognitive strategies to improve comprehension or repair it when it breaks down.improve comprehension or repair it when it breaks down.
Reasoning and inferential skillsReasoning and inferential skills
Motivation to understand and interest in task and Motivation to understand and interest in task and materialsmaterials
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VIDEO
Reading Comprehension
Knowledge Fluency
Metacognition
Language
Prosody
Automaticity / Rate
Accuracy
Decoding
Phonemic Awareness
Oral Language Skills
Knowledge of Language Structures
Vocabulary
Cultural Influences
Life Experience
Content Knowledge
Activation of Prior Knowledge
Knowledge about Texts
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
Early Intervention is Clearly Early Intervention is Clearly EffectiveEffective
Prevention studies commonly show that 70- 90% of at risk children (bottom 20%) in K- 2 can learn to read in average range
75
86
96
89
70
80
100
90
Word Attack
Text ReadingAccuracy
Reading Comprehension
Text Reading
Rate
68
7473 71
30%
83
91
Outcomes from 67.5 Hours of Intensive LiPSTM Intervention
Torgesen, 2003
Standard Score
31.8
20.4
Proportion falling below the 25th
percentile in word reading ability at the end of 1st grade 10
20
30
1995 1996
Screening at beginning of 1st grade, with extra instruction for those in bottom 30-40%
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Hartsfield Elementary School Progress Over Five Years
Torgesen, Alexander et al., 2001
Proportion falling below the 25th
percentile in word reading ability at the end of first grade 10
20
3031.8
20.4
10.96.7
3.7
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Average Percentile 48.9 55.2 61.4 73.5 81.7for entire grade (n=105)
Screening at beginning of first grade, with extra instruction for those in bottom 30-40%
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Hartsfield Elementary ProgressOver Five Years
King & Torgesen (in press)
• Provide systematicsystematic and explicitexplicit instruction on whatever component skills are deficient: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension strategies
• Provide a significant increase in intensityintensity of instruction
• Provide ample opportunities for guided practice of new skills
• Provide appropriate levels of scaffolding as children learn to apply new skills
Instructional interactions and Interventions are more effective when they:
The consensus view of most important instructional features for interventions
Reading stimulates general Reading stimulates general
cognitive growth — cognitive growth —
particularly verbal skillsparticularly verbal skills
Meanwhile, Back in the BrainMeanwhile, Back in the Brain
Why Do Some Children Have Difficulties Learning to Read?
S#1: At risk
S#31: Not at risk
Left Hemisphere Right HemisphereKindergarten
150-300 300-1000 msTime after Stimulus
Onset
Kindergarten
S#1: At risk
S#31: Not at risk
150-300 300-1000 msTime after Stimulus
Onset
Left Hemisphere Right Hemisphere
Kindergarten
1st Grade
At Risk Reader
Left Hemisphere Right Hemisphere
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LEARNING, LITERACY AND THE ROLE OF THE LEARNING, LITERACY AND THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA: SOME SUGGESTIONSMEDIA: 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
A CHILD’S LIFE: LEARNING, LITERACY AND THE ROLE OF
THE MEDIA:
G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development