The Reading House: A Children’s Book for Emergent Literacy Screening During Well-Child Visits

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends literacy promotion and developmental assessment during well-child visits. Emergent literacy skills are well defined, and the use of early screening has the potential to identify children at risk for reading difficulties and guide intervention before kindergarten. METHODS: The Reading House (TRH) is a children’s book designed to screen emergent literacy skills. These are assessed by sharing the book with the child and using a 9-item, scripted scoring form. Get Ready to Read! (GRTR) is a validated measure shown to predict reading outcomes. TRH and GRTR were administered in random order to 278 children (mean: 43.1 ± 5.6 months; 125 boys, 153 girls) during well-child visits at 7 primary care sites. Parent, child, and provider impressions of TRH were also assessed. Analyses included Rasch methods, Spearman-ρ correlations, and logistic regression, including covariates age, sex, and clinic type. RESULTS: Psychometric properties were strong, including item difficulty and reliability. Internal consistency was good for new measures (rCo-α = 0.68). The mean TRH score was 4.2 (±2.9; range: 0–14), and mean GRTR was 11.1 (±4.4; range: 1–25). TRH scores were positively correlated with GRTR scores (rs = 0.66; high), female sex, private practice, and child age (P < .001). The relationship remained significant controlling for these covariates (P < .05). The mean TRH administration time was 5:25 minutes (±0:55; range: 3:34–8:32). Parent, child, and provider impressions of TRH were favorable. CONCLUSIONS: TRH is a feasible, valid, and enjoyable means by which emergent literacy skills in 3- and 4-year-old children can be directly assessed during primary care.