Evaluating the effectiveness of a ‘real-world’ shared reading intervention for preschool children and their families: A randomised controlled trial.

Abstract

Background: Shared reading interventions can impact positively on preschool children’s language development and on their caregiver’s attitudes/behaviours towards reading. However, a number of barriers may discourage families from engaging with these interventions, particularly families from lower socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds. We investigated how families from such backgrounds responded to an intervention designed explicitly to overcome these barriers. Methods: In a pre-registered cluster randomised controlled trial, 85 lower SES families and their 3- to 4-year old children from 10 different preschools were randomly allocated to take part in The Reader’s Shared Reading programme (intervention) or an existing ‘Story Time’ group at a library (control), once a week for eight weeks. Three outcome measures were assessed at baseline and post-intervention: (i) attendance, (ii) enjoyment of the reading groups, and (iii) caregivers’ knowledge of, attitudes and behaviours towards reading. A fourth, - children’s vocabulary - was assessed at baseline and four weeks post-intervention. Results: Families were significantly more likely to attend the intervention group and rated them more favourably, compared to the control group. However, there were no significant effects on caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours, or on children’s language. Conclusion: The intervention was only successful in engaging families from disadvantaged backgrounds in shared reading. Implications for the use, duration and intensity of shared reading interventions are discussed.

Association of Parent Training With Child Language Development

“…Kaiser, T.B. Hancock, unpublished data, 1998) . Articles were excluded because of the reported age of participants (mean age plus 1 SD, >6 years; n = 11 studies), the inclusion of too few participants (n = 34 studies), the inclusion of nonparents as the primary interventionists (n = 343 studies), no reported measure of communication or language (n = 66 studies), no availability in English (n = 8 studies), or no reported statistics appropriate for calculating an effect size and no additional details or no author response to a request for information (n = 226 studies).…”

Enhancing children’s numerical skills through a play-based intervention at kindergarten and at home: a quasi-experimental study

“…Playing numerical games might also help parents who have negative feelings toward mathematics to assist their child's numeracy development in a pleasant manner. Notably, emphasizing enjoyment rather than educational value has been suggested to be more likely to help with the enrollment of low-income families in home-based interventions (Lingwood, Billington, & Rowland, 2018). Additionally, playing internationally known games familiar to many parents, such as dominos, bridge cards, and battle or board games, might contribute to bridging the gap between schools and families from many parts of the world.…”

“…Thus, just as it has been suggested that focusing on enjoyment rather than on educational value was more conducive to the recruitment of low-income families in home-based interventions (Lingwood et al, 2018), providing international games might be more attractive for the families who need it the most compared with a family mathematics curriculum (Starkey & Klein, 2000) or attending 12 evening classes (Hirsh et al, 2019). Of particular interest, in the literature regarding home-based literacy interventions, authors have emphasized that sensitive and emotional relationships between parents and their children should not be disrupted by the pressure that could arise from a teaching-learning situation (van Steensel et al, 2011).…”