What can Parents' Self‐report of Reading Difficulties Tell Us about Their Children's Emergent Literacy at School Entry?

Abstract

Research has linked family risk (FR) of reading difficulties (RD) with children's difficulties in emergent literacy development. This study is the first to apply parents' self‐report of RD as a proxy for FR in a large sample ( n = 1171) in order to test group differences in children's emergent literacy. Emergent literacy, the home literacy environment and children's interest in literacy and letters were compared across different groups of FR children around the school entry. The FR children performed lower in emergent literacy compared with not‐FR children. Furthermore, when comparing FR children with one parent reporting RD and children with both parents reporting RD, moderate group differences were found in Emergent Literacy. Finally, parents' self‐report of RD was a significant contributor of emergent literacy after controlling for the home literacy environment, children's gender, their interest in literacy and letters, months in kindergarten, vocabulary and parents' education. Our findings suggest that schools should monitor the reading development of children with parents self‐reporting RD closely – especially if both parents self‐report RD. © 2017 The Authors. Dyslexia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Abstract

Key Messages

• The principal implication is the value of screening for reading difficulties with the simple but valid tool ‘parents' self‐report of reading difficulties (RD)’ in preschool years.

• If the parents had themselves faced RD, their children are more likely to experience difficulties in developing emergent literacy.

• The risk of difficulties in emergent literacy is higher when both parents have a history of RD.

• Parents, especially with self‐reported RD, should be advised about the role of home literacy environment in the development of their children's emergent literacy.

• Families with both parents self‐reporting RD have the fewest children's books at home.

• Family risk children reported less interest in letters than not‐family risk children; parents should be advised to discuss letters and sounds during shared reading.

• Schools should monitor the reading development of children with parents self‐reporting RD closely – especially if both parents self‐report RD.