Studying the Effectiveness of the Storytelling/Story-Acting (STSA) Play Intervention on Ugandan Preschoolers' Emergent Literacy, Oral Language, and Theory of Mind in Two Rural Ugandan Community Libraries

2019 ◽  
pp. 1174-1205
Author(s):  
Geoff Goodman ◽  
Valeda F. Dent

This study explored the impact of two rural village libraries in Uganda on preschool children's school readiness skills. Using two rural village libraries in Mpigi and Kabubbu as a backdrop, this study explored the effectiveness of a six-month play-based intervention known as the Storytelling/Story-Acting (STSA) activity. Children ages 3 to 5 at each library were randomly assigned to participate in either the STSA play intervention (n = 63) or a story-reading activity (n = 60) for one hour twice per week for six months. All children were administered school readiness skills measures before and after the six-month intervention. Caregivers were also administered an interview that assessed their educational level, quality of life, reading aloud to target child, social support, and total possessions. Children who participated in the STSA intervention had higher scores on the colors subtest of the emergent literacy measure than children who did not participate in this activity. Preschool children benefit from a story-reading activity with or without the STSA play intervention.

Author(s):  
Geoff Goodman ◽  
Valeda F. Dent

This study explored the impact of two rural village libraries in Uganda on preschool children's school readiness skills. Using two rural village libraries in Mpigi and Kabubbu as a backdrop, this study explored the effectiveness of a six-month play-based intervention known as the Storytelling/Story-Acting (STSA) activity. Children ages 3 to 5 at each library were randomly assigned to participate in either the STSA play intervention (n = 63) or a story-reading activity (n = 60) for one hour twice per week for six months. All children were administered school readiness skills measures before and after the six-month intervention. Caregivers were also administered an interview that assessed their educational level, quality of life, reading aloud to target child, social support, and total possessions. Children who participated in the STSA intervention had higher scores on the colors subtest of the emergent literacy measure than children who did not participate in this activity. Preschool children benefit from a story-reading activity with or without the STSA play intervention.


Author(s):  
Loes Wauters ◽  
Jean L. DesJardin ◽  
Evelien Dirks

School readiness captures the skills, prior to formal schooling, that are necessary for children to achieve later academic and social-emotional success. Language and emergent literacy skills are important components of school readiness and lay the foundation for later reading skills. In this chapter, child (e.g., age of identification and enrollment in early intervention, hearing device use), family (e.g., socioeconomic status, parental beliefs), and home literacy environment (e.g., quantity and quality of shared book reading) factors will be presented as they directly relate to children’s development of school readiness skills. Implications are discussed for parents and professionals in early intervention about how interventions focused on parent–child interaction can contribute to language and emergent literacy skills.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Kamphorst ◽  
Marja Cantell ◽  
Gerda Van Der Veer ◽  
Alexander Minnaert ◽  
Suzanne Houwen

A promising approach for studying school readiness involves a person-centered approach, aimed at exploring how functioning in diverse developmental domains conjointly affects children’s school outcomes. Currently, however, a systematic understanding lacks of how motor skills, in conjunction with other school readiness skills, affect a child’s school outcomes. Additionally, little is known about longitudinal associations of school readiness with non-academic (e.g., socioemotional) school outcomes. Therefore, we examined the school readiness skills of a sample of Dutch children (N = 91) with a mean age of 3 years and 4 months (46% girls). We used a multi-informant test battery to assess children’s school readiness in terms of executive functions (EFs), language and emergent literacy, motor skills, and socioemotional behavior. During the spring term of a child’s first grade year, we collected academic and non-academic (i.e., EFs, motor skills, socioemotional- and classroom behavior, and creative thinking) school outcomes. A latent profile analysis revealed four distinct profiles. Children in the “Parent Positive” (29%) profile were rated positively by their parents, and performed variably on motor and language/emergent literacy skills tests. The second profile–“Multiple Strengths” (13%)–consisted of children showing strengths in multiple domains, especially with respect to motor skills. Children from the third profile–“Average Performers” (50%)–did not show any distinct strengths or weaknesses, rather displayed school readiness skill levels close to, or just below the sample mean. Finally, the “Parental Concern” (8%) profile was characterized by high levels of parental concerns, while displaying slightly above average performance on specific motor and language skills. Motor skills clearly distinguished between profiles, next to parent-rated EFs and socioemotional behavior, and to a lesser extent emergent literacy skills. School readiness profiles were found to differ in mean scores on first grade academic achievement, parent- and teacher-rated EFs, motor skills, parent-rated socioemotional functioning, and pre-requisite learning skills. The pattern of mean differences was complex, suggesting that profiles could not be ranked from low to high in terms of school outcomes. Longitudinal studies are needed to disentangle the interaction between emerging school readiness of the child and the surrounding context.


2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ageliki Nicolopoulou ◽  
Aline de Sa ◽  
Hande Ilgaz ◽  
Kai Schnabel-Cortina ◽  
Carolyn Brockmeyer

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. Law ◽  
R. Aishworiya ◽  
S. Cai ◽  
A.-A. Bouvette-Turcot ◽  
B. F. P. Broekman ◽  
...  

Abstract Aims There is compelling evidence for gradient effects of household income on school readiness. Potential mechanisms are described, yet the growth curve trajectory of maternal mental health in a child's early life has not been thoroughly investigated. We aimed to examine the relationships between household incomes, maternal mental health trajectories from antenatal to the postnatal period, and school readiness. Methods Prospective data from 505 mother–child dyads in a birth cohort in Singapore were used, including household income, repeated measures of maternal mental health from pregnancy to 2-years postpartum, and a range of child behavioural, socio-emotional and cognitive outcomes from 2 to 6 years of age. Antenatal mental health and its trajectory were tested as mediators in the latent growth curve models. Results Household income was a robust predictor of antenatal maternal mental health and all child outcomes. Between children from the bottom and top household income quartiles, four dimensions of school readiness skills differed by a range of 0.52 (95% Cl: 0.23, 0.67) to 1.21 s.d. (95% CI: 1.02, 1.40). Thirty-eight percent of pregnant mothers in this cohort were found to have perinatal depressive and anxiety symptoms in the subclinical and clinical ranges. Poorer school readiness skills were found in children of these mothers when compared to those of mothers with little or no symptoms. After adjustment of unmeasured confounding on the indirect effect, antenatal maternal mental health provided a robust mediating path between household income and multiple school readiness outcomes (χ2 126.05, df 63, p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.031, CFI = 0.980, SRMR = 0.034). Conclusions Pregnant mothers with mental health symptoms, particularly those from economically-challenged households, are potential targets for intervention to level the playing field of their children.


2021 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 110-120
Author(s):  
Courtney Ricciardi ◽  
Louis Manfra ◽  
Suzanne Hartman ◽  
Charles Bleiker ◽  
Laura Dineheart ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 800-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate E. Williams ◽  
Donna Berthelsen

Self-regulation skills are an important predictor of school readiness and early school achievement. Research identifies that experiences of early stress in disadvantaged households can affect young children’s brain architecture, often manifested in poor self-regulatory functioning. Although there are documented benefits of coordinated movement activities to improve self-regulation, few interventions have focused exclusively on music and rhythmic activities. This study explores the effectiveness of a preschool intervention, delivered across 8 weeks, which focused on coordinated rhythmic movement with music to improve self-regulation and executive function. The study involved 113 children across three preschools in disadvantaged communities. The intervention group received 16 sessions of a rhythm and movement program over 8 weeks, whereas the control group undertook the usual preschool program. Executive functions were directly assessed, and teachers reported on children’s self-regulation before and after the intervention. Path analyses found positive intervention effects for emotional regulation reported by teachers and, for boys, on the measure of shifting in the executive function assessment. Teacher-reported cognitive and behavioral regulation also improved in one research site. These early findings suggest that a rhythm and movement intervention has the potential to support the development of self-regulation skills in preschool; however, further research is required.


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