Impact of Telecoaching on the Emergent Literacy Skills of Four-Year Old Children

Date of Award

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Department

Speech and Hearing Science

Committee Chair

Victoria Henbest, Ph.D.

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to examine the impact of a 8-week virtual text-message based parent training program on the emergent literacy skills of four-year-old children. Prior to the training children were screened for typically developing language skills and completed measures of a variety of emergent literacy skills then eight parent-child dyads were randomly assigned to two groups. Each parent was provided specific strategies over 8-weeks to facilitate the development of various emergent literacy skills. Five parents received code-based strategies to facilitate Inside-Out skills such as alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness and print concepts, while 3 parent-child dyads received meaning-based strategies to facilitate Outside-In skills such as storytelling abilities and vocabulary. Following the program, the children’s emergent literacy skills were re-tested. On average, all participants’ emergent literacy scores were higher than at pre-test, although not all gains were statistically significant, and the size of the gains varied. The most substantial improvement appeared to be in the areas of Word Relationships and Listening Comprehension, which were measures of Outside-In skills. These preliminary findings lend initial support for considering text-based parent trainings as a way to support parents in facilitating their children’s early literacy skills.

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