In this article, we argue against deficit models of early literacy common in the field of speech pathology, proposing instead a competence-based view of early literacy as the concurrent development of language practices develop through social interaction. We look specifically at shared book-reading, developing a discourse analysis of case study data that show how parents do considerable interactional work to position their children with language delays as competent and active co-constructors of meaning in this important early literacy activity.
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