Comparison of Literacy and Developmental Screening of Preschool-Aged Children During Primary Care

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Health
• Early Childhood Education
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends integrating literacy promotion and developmental surveillance into well-child visits to enhance school readiness.
• The Reading House (TRH) is a validated, book-based screener designed to assess emergent literacy skills in preschool-aged children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of the TRH emergent literacy screener with a widely utilized general developmental screening tool, the Survey of Well-Being of Young Children (SWYC) milestones, during routine well-child visits.
• To evaluate the ability of TRH to identify children at risk for literacy delays who might otherwise be missed by general developmental screening.

Main Methods:

• A study involving 721 children aged 3-4 years from English-speaking households who underwent both TRH and SWYC milestones screening during well-visits.
• TRH screenings were administered by Kindergarten Readiness Coordinators, who also provided tailored literacy plans and referrals for identified needs.

Main Results:

• A low positive correlation (r=0.30) was observed between TRH and SWYC milestones scores.
• Nearly half (47.02%) of the children were flagged as at-risk by either TRH or SWYC (or both). Notably, 24.8% of children who passed SWYC milestones screening were identified as at-risk by TRH.
• Sociodemographic factors including race, sex, and Child Opportunity Index were associated with the likelihood of being flagged as at-risk on either screening tool.

Conclusions:

• The TRH screener identified a significant number of children at risk for literacy challenges who passed general developmental screening.
• These findings provide further validation for TRH and underscore the importance of specific emergent literacy screening during the critical preschool years.