Literate Language Intervention With High-Need Prekindergarten Children: A Randomized Trial

Area of Science:

• Child Language Development
• Educational Psychology
• Speech and Language Pathology

Background:

• Prekindergarten children with low oral language skills are at risk for later literacy difficulties.
• Targeting literate language skills can support foundational language development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a randomized intervention trial for prekindergarten children with low oral language skills.
• To assess the impact of supplemental instruction on literate language skills.

Main Methods:

• 82 prekindergarten children with low oral language skills were randomized into a control or intervention group.
• The intervention group received 12 weeks of small-group instruction on syntax and semantics (prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs, negations).
• Instruction was delivered by paraprofessionals in 20-minute sessions, 4 times per week.

Main Results:

• Children receiving supplemental instruction showed significant, educationally meaningful gains in oral language skills compared to the control group.
• Moderate to large effect sizes (0.44–0.88) were observed on researcher-designed oral language measures.
• The intervention positively impacted understanding and production of specific syntactic and semantic features.

Conclusions:

• Supplemental instruction can effectively enhance the oral language and literate language skills of young children.
• This intervention shows potential for improving syntax and semantics in children with weak oral language.
• Early targeted interventions are crucial for supporting language development in at-risk prekindergarteners.