This school-based study examined the relationship between 84 preschoolers' performance on two widely used preschool screening instruments, and teacher ratings of reading performance at the close of first grade. At prekindergarten screening 4- and 5-year-olds were evaluated with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised and Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration. Biserial correlations were computed for each test and separate appraisals of decoding and sight-word vocabulary skills. A significant positive relationship was found between PPVT-R scores and sight-word reading (r = .41, p ≤ .01). In retrospect, analysis of variance indicated that the group of first graders with poor sight-word vocabularies performed significantly lower on the PPVT-R (p = ≤ .02) than their classmates.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Badian, N.A. (1976, April). Early prediction of academic underachievement. Paper presented at the meeting of the 54th Annual International Convention of the Council for Exceptional Children. Chicago, IL (Eric Document Reproduction Service No. 122 500)
2.
Badian, N.A. (1984). Can the WPPSI be an aid in identifying young children at risk for reading disability?Journal of Learning Disabilities, 17, 583–587.
3.
Beery, K.D. (1982). Developmental test of Visual-Motor Integration.Chicago: Follett Educational Corp.
4.
Berninger, V., Thalberg, S., Debruyn, I., & Smith, R. (1987). Preventing reading disabilities by assessing and remediating phonemic skills. School Psychology Review, 16, 554–565.
5.
Bradley, L., & Bryant, P. (1985). Rhyme and reason in reading and spelling.Ann Arbor, Ml: The University of Michigan Press.
6.
Colarusso, R., Plankenhorn, A., & Brooks, M.A. (1980). Predicting first grade achievement through formal testing of 5-year-old high-risk children. The Journal of Special Education, 14, 355–363.
7.
Colarusso, R., Mathis, G., & Shessel, D. (1979). Identifying high-risk kindergarten children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 12, 684–686.
8.
Diamond, G. (1983). The birthdate effect---A maturational effect?Journal of Learning Disabilities, 16, 161–164.
Dunst, C.J., & Rheingrover, R.M. (1981). Discontinuity and instability in early development: Implications for assessment. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 1(2), 49–60.
11.
Egeland, B., DiNello, M., & Carr, D. (1970). The relationship of intelligence, visual motor, psycholinguists and reading readiness skill with achievement. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30, 451–458.
12.
Esterly, D.L., & Griffin, H.C. (1987). Preschool programs for children with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 20, 571–573.
13.
Glazzard, M. (1977). The effectiveness of three kindergarten predictors for first-grade achievement. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 10, 95–99.
14.
Graham, M.A., & Scott, K.G. (1988). The impact of definitions of high risk on services to infants and toddlers. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 8(3), 23–38.
15.
Hooper, S.R., & Hynd, G.W. (1985). Differential diagnosis of subtypes of developmental dyslexia with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC). Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 14, 142–152.
16.
Juel, C. (1988). Learning to read and write: A longitudinal study of fifty-four children from first through fourth grade. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.
17.
Lerner, J.W., Mardell-Czudnowski, C., & Goldenberg, D. (1987). Special education for the early childhood years.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
18.
McCarthy, J.M. (1989). Specific learning disabilities in preschool children. In L.B. Silver (Ed.), The assessment of learning disabilities (pp. 27–72). Boston: College-Hill.
19.
Stanovich, K.E., Cunningham, A.E., & Cramer, B. (1984). Assessing phonological awareness in kindergarten children: Issues of task comparability. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 38, 175–190.
20.
Wagner, R.K., & Torgesen, J.K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 192–212.
21.
Witt, J.C., Elliott, S.N., Gresham, F.M., & Kramer, J.J. (1988). Assessment of special children.Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman.
