Kindergarten Impacts of a Preschool Language Focused-Intervention

Many preschool language-focused interventions attempt to boost language and literacy skills in young children at risk in these areas of development, though the long-term effects of such interventions are not well-established. This study investigated kindergarten language and reading skills, specifically the subcomponents of vocabulary, decoding, and reading comprehension, for children exposed to the language-focused intervention "Learning Language and Loving It" (LLLI; Weitzman & Greenberg, 2002) during preschool. End of kindergarten skills were examined, comparing children whose teachers implemented LLLI (n = 25) or business-as-usual (BAU) instruction (n = 24). Hierarchical linear modeling results showed the LLLI intervention to have significant effects on children's decoding and reading comprehension in kindergarten for children who had high levels of language skill at preschool, as compared to their counterparts in the BAU condition. Study findings therefore indicate that preschool language-focused interventions may primarily benefit children with higher skill levels. This suggests the need to explore avenues for addressing the needs of children with relatively low language skills during preschool and the eventual transition to reading. [This article was published in "Applied Developmental Science," v20 n2 p94-107 2016.]