CONTEMPORARY CHILDHOOD: WHAT HAPPENS EARLY REALLY MATTERS

1. CONTEMPORARY CHILDHOOD: WHAT HAPPENS EARLY REALLY MATTERS G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS • How do children develop language abilities? • How do children develop social competencies? • How can we foster children’s emotional health? • How do children learn to read? • Why do some children have difficulties learning to read? • How can we prevent reading difficulties? • How can we remediate reading difficulties?

3. NICHD Reading Research Program Children’s Hospital/ Harvard LDRC Waber University of Washington Berninger Univ of Massachusetts Rayner Emerson College Aram Toronto Lovett Beth Israel Galaburda Mayo Clinic Kalusic Tufts Wolf Ya le Shaywitz Syracuse Univ Blachman Haskins Labs Fowler/Liberman San Luis Ebispo Lindamood/Bell SUNY Albany Vellutino Loyola Univ – Chicago Morrison Johns Hopkins Denckla Boy’s Town Smith Univ of Southern California Manis/Seidenberg D.C./Houston Forman/Moats Colorado LDRC Defries Univ of Missouri Geary Southern Illinois Univ Moltese Georgetown Univ Eden Univ of California – IrvineFilipek Bowman Gray Wood Univ of California – San Diego, Salk Institute Bellugi Univ of Arkansas – Med Ctr Dykman Georgia State R. Morris Univ of Georgia Hynd Univ of Houston Francis Yale Methodology Fletcher Florida State Torgesen/Wagner Univ of Florida Alexander/Conway Univ of Texas – Med Ctr Foorman/Fletcher NICHD Sites

4. OUR YOUNGEST CITIZENS WILL SURPRISE US Infants, Toddlers, and preschoolers can learn more than we ever thought possible From birth to age 3 the brains of children are rapidly forming connections between neural cells The quality and degree of connections between neural cells are established through the the quality of interactions the child has with adults, other children, and the environment Infants before the age of 6 months can perceive and express all sounds of all languages spoken on the planet

5. OUR YOUNGEST CITIZENS WILL SURPRISE US • Depending on the environment, vocabulary development accelerates rapidly during the second year of life. • Under the right circumstances, most 18 month olds (on average) learn 9 new words a day, every day, throughout the preschool years • By 3 years of age the child can speak in full sentences

6. The Role of the Environment and Early Experience on Language Development • Language development requires an interplay between genes, biology, and environmental factors • Poverty and disadvantage reduce the quantity and quality of interactions with language • Limited language interactions in the home environment place children at severe risk for school failure, particularly in reading • Cultural influences every aspect of human development and must be considered in the design and implementation of any program

7. Environmental Influences • By kindergarten a child from disadvantage typically has twice the vocabulary as a youngster born into poverty • The typical 5-year-old from an urban environment and disadvantaged home enters kindergarten at the 5th percentile in vocabulary • By age 16 advantaged children have four times the vocabulary as children born into poverty

8. Major Sources of Reading Failure • Socioeconomic Factors – Poverty • Biological Factors – Genetics and Neurobiology • Instructional Factors – Predominate

9. How Do Children Learn to Read?:The Influence of Early Language and Literacy Experiences Differences in exposure to words over one year can predict substantial difficulties in oral language and reading development: • Children in Professional Families – 11 million • Children in Working-class Families – 6 million • Children in Welfare Families – 3 million

10. Mean Number of Interactions Initiated per Hour 50 40 30 20 10 0 Mean Number of Minutes per Interaction per Hour 50 Professional 40 42 Professional Working-class Welfare Working-class 30 33 29 28.5 26 Welfare 20 18 10 0 Hart and Risley, 1995

11. Cumulative Language Experiences Cumulative Words Spoken to Child (in millions) 50 Professional 48 40 Working-class 30 30 20 12 Welfare 12 10 7.5 3 0 0 12 24 36 48 Age of Child (in months) Hart and Risley, 1995

12. The Effects of Weaknesses in Oral Language on Reading Growth Reading Age Level 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 High Oral Language in Kindergarten 5.2 years difference Low Oral Language in Kindergarten 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Chronological Age Hirsch, 1996

13. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Percent of 4th Grade Students Performing Below Basic Level - 37% White 27 Black 63 Hispanic 58 Poor 60 Non-poor 26 Percent Performing Below the Basic Reading Level National Center for Educational Statistics, 2003

14. WHAT DO KIDS NEED TO KNOW TO READ? A HECK OF A LOT

15. WHAT DO KIDS NEED TO KNOW TO READ FOR MEANING? Accurate and fluent word reading skills Oral language skills (vocabulary, linguistic comprehension) Extent of conceptual and factual knowledge Knowledge and skill in use of cognitive strategies to improve comprehension or repair it when it breaks down. Reasoning and inferential skills Motivation to understand and interest in task and materials

16. VIDEO

17. Language Knowledge Fluency Metacognition Life Experience Content Knowledge Activation of Prior Knowledge Knowledge about Texts Oral Language Skills Knowledge of Language Structures Vocabulary Cultural Influences Reading Comprehension Prosody Automaticity / Rate Accuracy Decoding Phonemic Awareness Motivation & Engagement Active Reading Strategies Monitoring Strategies Fix-Up Strategies

18. Early Intervention is Possible • Risk characteristics present in Preschool, Kindergarten and G1 • Print awareness, Letter knowledge, letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness, oral language development, vocabulary, background knowledge • Assess all children and INTERVENE

19. Early Intervention is Clearly Effective • Prevention studies commonly show that 70- 90% of at risk children (bottom 20%) in K- 2 can learn to read in average range

20. 96 91 89 86 83 75 74 73 71 68 Outcomes from 67.5 Hours of Intensive LiPSTM Intervention Standard Score 100 30% 90 80 70 Word Attack Text ReadingAccuracy Reading Comprehension Text Reading Rate Torgesen, 2003

21. Screening at beginning of 1st grade, with extra instruction for those in bottom 30-40% 31.8 20.4 Hartsfield Elementary School Progress Over Five Years 40 Proportion falling below the 25th percentile in word reading ability at the end of 1st grade 30 20 10 1995 1996 Torgesen, Alexander et al., 2001

22. Screening at beginning of first grade, with extra instruction for those in bottom 30-40% 31.8 20.4 10.9 6.7 3.7 Hartsfield Elementary ProgressOver Five Years 40 Proportion falling below the 25th percentile in word reading ability at the end of first grade 30 20 10 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Average Percentile 48.9 55.2 61.4 73.5 81.7 for entire grade (n=105) King & Torgesen (in press)

23. The consensus view of most important instructional features for interventions Instructional interactions and Interventions are more effective when they: • Provide systematic and explicit instruction on whatever component skills are deficient: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension strategies • Provide a significant increase in intensity of instruction • Provide ample opportunities for guided practice of new skills • Provide appropriate levels of scaffolding as children learn to apply new skills

24. Reading stimulates general cognitive growth — particularly verbal skills

25. Meanwhile, Back in the Brain

26. Why Do Some Children Have Difficulties Learning to Read? Kindergarten Left Hemisphere Right Hemisphere S#1: At risk 150-300300-1000 ms Time after Stimulus Onset S#31: Not at risk

27. Kindergarten Left Hemisphere Right Hemisphere S#1: At risk 150-300300-1000 ms Time after Stimulus Onset S#31: Not at risk

28. At Risk Reader Left Hemisphere Right Hemisphere Kindergarten 1st Grade

29. LEARNING, LITERACY AND THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA: SOME SUGGESTIONS Base everything you do on converging scientific evidence on how children learn, why some children have a tough time, and what can be done about that Avoid at all costs the development of media for children on the basis of untested philosophies, assumptions, anecdotes, and lousy research Try to avoid getting caught up in “either-or” debates – they are stupid and not productive Make sure you evaluate the effectiveness of any products through the application of the appropriate research methods and designs

30. A CHILD’S LIFE: LEARNING, LITERACY AND THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA: G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development