The emergent literacy skills of 4- to 5-year-old children with and without a history of late talking

Abstract

Purpose

To explore the emergent literacy skills of 4- to 5-year-old children with a history of late talking (H-LT) and a history of typical development (H-TD) by: (1) determining if the two groups differ on measures of emergent literacy, and (2) identifying the proportion in each group presenting with weak emergent literacy profiles.

Method

The emergent literacy skills of 4- to 5-year-old children with a H-LT (n = 13) and a H-TD (n = 11) were compared on measures of phonological awareness, print awareness (including print concepts and letter-sound knowledge), and narrative. Cut-off scores reflecting weak performance for each measure were determined. Children scoring below the cut-off on at least two measures were identified as having a weak emergent literacy profile.

Result

Group means indicated poorer emergent literacy performance in children with a H-LT compared to a H-TD, however, comparisons were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Proportionally, more children with a H-LT had a weak emergent literacy profile (8/13; 62%) compared to children with a H-TD (2/11; 18%).

Conclusion

Children with a H-LT may be more vulnerable for emergent literacy difficulties. By assessing multiple emergent literacy skills, individualised profiles for children can be determined and reported alongside between-group comparisons.

Keywords:

• Emergent literacy
• preschoolers
• late talking
• toddlers
• children

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the families who participated in this study. The fourth author acknowledges funding from the Australian Research Council, Discovery Early Career Research Award [DE200101078] that supported her to engage in the analysis and write-up of this research.

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).