Read it Once Again Instruction with Two Groups of Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a preschool early literacy curriculum (Read It Once Again) across two groups of students. Participants were preschool children with disabilities in self-contained classrooms and children at risk for disabilities served in state funded prekindergarten programs. Teachers in the intervention classrooms implemented Read It Once Again instruction in small groups on a daily basis. Teachers in comparison classrooms implemented the ongoing preschool curriculum as a “business-as-usual†no-intervention condition. There were no pretest group differences on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Preschool Language Scales for both groups of children; however, there were statistically significant effects on picture naming and rhyming progress-monitoring measures for preschoolers with disabilities who received the intervention. These results suggest that Read It Once Again may be effective for improving early literacy skills of preschool children with or at risk for significant early learning problems.