Individual difference variables that predict response to training in phonological awareness

The cognitive abilities that predicted growth in response to a 12-week training program in phonological awareness were investigated with a sample of 100 kindergarten children. The children were selected from two elementary schools with historically low achievement in reading. Sixty children received training in both analytic and synthetic awareness skills, and 40 children constituted a no-treatment control group. Pretest measures included assessment of phonological awareness, phonological memory and naming rate, letter knowledge, reading and spelling, and general verbal ability. Growth in phonological awareness was assessed during the middle and at the end of the training period. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to estimate individual growth curves in phonological awareness for children in both the treatment and control groups. Initial comparisons between children in the two groups indicated substantial overall training effects in phonological awareness for children in the treatment group. For children in the training group, the model that best predicted growth in analytic awareness included invented spelling and general verbal ability, while growth in synthetic awareness was predicted best by a combination of invented spelling and rapid automatic naming of digits.