Relationship Between Home Literacy Environment and Reading Achievement in Children with Reading Disabilities

Abstract

Past research has indicated that a significant relationship exists between young children's early home literacy environment and their reading-related skills. However, this relationship has rarely been investigated among older children with reading disabilities (RD). In the present study, the relationship between parent and child home literacy activities and children's academic functioning was investigated with a sample of 65 elementary-age children with RD. The results indicated that children's home literacy activities were not significantly related to any of their academic abilities, whereas parents' home literacy activities were significantly related to children's passage comprehension and spelling scores. However, relationships between home literacy environment and reading may be different for children with and without RD.The home environment has been considered critical in the development of a variety of cognitive and linguistic skills that have been shown to be important factors in early literacy development (Saracho, 1997b). Adams (1990), in her extensive review, identified reading aloud to children as one of the most important activities for building the skills necessary for early reading. Shared reading is believed to aid in the development of word knowledge, understanding the meaning of print, and awareness of written letters and words (Senechal, LeFevre, Thomas, & Daley, 1998). Adams (1990) estimated that children who are read to for approximately 30 minutes each night will have acquired at least 1,000 hours of print exposure when they begin kindergarten. This extensive print expo-sure is seen as an important prerequisite for children to begin to understand the phonemic structure of language and to readily identify letters. Vygotsky (1978) highlighted the importance of social context (see Ma-son & Allen, 1986, for a review) for language acquisition and underscored the significance of the use of scaffolding by more advanced users of the skill in development. Young children who are guided through the reading process by their parents learn strategies related to information processing, learn more advanced vocabulary, and are assisted in understanding aspects of the reading experience that are not well under-stood when reading alone (Leseman & de Jong, 1998). But, as Heath's (1983) extensive research indicates, there still may be important environmental differences between families in their use of language and print that are related to levels of academic functioning for some children in their later school years. Whether the family literacy environment affects reading and other academic functioning or the level of a child's reading or academic functioning affects home reading activities in the family is still an open question.The term home literacy environment generally has referred to participation in literacy-related activities in the home, which can include aspects of exposure (availability of print material) and frequency of reading (Leseman & de Jong, 1998). Saracho (1997a) proposed that parents...

The Home Literacy Environment Is a Correlate, but Perhaps Not a Cause, of Variations in Children’s Language and Literacy Development

“…However, it is notable that this study did not have any direct measures of the literacy activities parents undertook with their children, which is how the home literacy environment is typically defined. In a similar vein, Rashid et al (2005) found that the home literacy activities undertaken by parents of children with reading disabilities were not significantly related to their academic outcomes once parents’ own literacy activities at home were taken into account. Children’s age range in this sample (6;6–8;6) was narrower than in Van Bergen et al (2016), but participants were all attending elementary school at the time of screening (Grade 1 or 2).…”

“…Studies that have directly compared active and passive home literacy activities have found that the active components (i.e., parent–child interactions) are better predictors of children’s skills than the passive measures (Bracken & Fischel, 2008; Burgess et al, 2002). However, in a sample of children with reading disorders, Rashid and colleagues (2005) found the opposite pattern: Passive—but not active—home literacy experiences accounted for a significant amount of variance in children’s reading comprehension and spelling after controlling for child IQ and maternal education.…”

“…The “home literacy environment” usually refers to activities undertaken by family members at home that relate to literacy learning (Bracken & Fischel, 2008; Burgess, Hecht, & Lonigan, 2002; Payne, Whitehurst, & Angell, 1994; Rashid, Morris, & Sevcik, 2005) as well as the literacy resources in the home and parental attitudes toward literacy (Martini & Sénéchal, 2012; Weigel, Martin, & Bennett, 2006). It is usually measured by rating scales and can be divided into “formal” and “informal” home-based literacy interactions (Senechal & Lefevre, 2002).…”

Antecedents and Consequences of School Belonging: Empirical Evidence and Implications for Practices

“…Appropriate parenting and parental involvement (Chow & Chu, 2007;Okagaki & Frensch, 1998), in this analysis, may serve as basis for students to identify with others and establish a social connectedness. A home climate with the availability of resources or whereby parents take part in their children's learning (e.g., spending three hours per day) (Hood, Conlon, & Andrews, 2008;LeFevre, Polyzoi, Skwarchuk, Fast, & Sowinski, 2010;Rashid, Morris, & Sevcik, 2005) may create and stimulate a sense of positive emotions. This enriched and welcoming home milieu may, in turn, translate to feelings of serenity, appreciation, and acceptance towards others in a school context.…”

Práticas de leitura e compreensão de texto no 6º e 7º anos do ensino fundamental

“…Assim, o ambiente doméstico tem sido considerado um quesito importante no desenvolvimento precoce das habilidades de alfabetização das crianças (Rashid, Morris, & Sevcik, 2005), no qual os pais, através de suas estratégias de leitura, colaboram com a ampliação do vocabulário (Leseman & Jong, 2001). O desenvolvimento desse vocabulário está ligado à frequência com que pais e filhos leem histórias (Bus, van Ijzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995;Scarborough, Dobrich, & Hager, 1991).…”