Home and School Literacy Experiences in Preschool-Age Children With Developmental Disabilities: Identifying Relationships Between Speech, Language, and Early Literacy Skills

Abstract

Purpose: Literacy instruction at home and in school, in addition to child speech and language ability, plays an essential role in reading development. The relationship between these factors in children with developmental disabilities during preschool is important to identify and describe in order to develop and test interventions that target instructional supports. This study examines the relationship between parent perceptions of literacy experiences at home and in school and speech, language, and literacy skills in children with developmental disabilities in preschool. Method: Child factors of speech ability, expressive and receptive language and vocabulary comprehension, phonological awareness, and print knowledge in 38 preschool-age children with developmental disabilities between the ages of 48 and 69 months were assessed. Home and school literacy experiences were reported via parent questionnaires. Relationships between child factors and home and school experiences were evaluated. Results: Parents reported frequent shared literacy engagement regardless of speech ability or receptive language skills. In school, parents reported that teachers engaged in activities of decoding and word recognition and used technology and/or augmentative and alternative communication at least weekly for instruction, but rarely for writing. Speech ability was significantly correlated with access to technology for instruction, with children who had greater speech ability provided with greater access to technology. Conclusions: Findings suggest that parents of young children with developmental disabilities shared positive perceptions of the role reading together plays in language and literacy development and read together frequently. At school, more limited access to reading instruction was reported. Speech-language pathologists, teachers, and parents each play important roles in providing access to foundational literacy activities during preschool for children with developmental disabilities.