van Kleeck Anne, Vander Woude Judith, Hammett Lisa
University of Texas, Dallas, USA.
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2006 Feb;15(1):85-95. doi: 10.1044/1058-0360(2006/009).
Preschoolers with language impairment have difficulties with both literal and inferential language, both of which are critical to later reading comprehension. Because these children are known to be at risk for later reading comprehension difficulties, it is important to design and test interventions that foster both literal and inferential language skills. Using a randomized pretest-posttest control group design, we investigated whether an 8-week, one-on-one book-sharing intervention would improve both the literal and inferential language skills of Head Start preschoolers with language impairments.
Thirty children were randomly assigned to either a control group that received no intervention or to a treatment group that received twice-weekly 15-min sessions in which adults read books and asked both literal and inferential questions about the books using scripts that were embedded throughout the text. Treatment and control groups were compared using pre- and posttest scores on 2 measures of literal and 1 measure of inferential language skill.
Significant group differences, and medium to large effect sizes, were found between pre- and posttest scores for all 3 measures.
These findings suggest that book sharing with embedded questions that target both literal and inferential language skills can result in gains on both types of language in this population. Future studies with larger number of children are needed to corroborate these findings.
有语言障碍的学龄前儿童在字面语言和推理语言方面都存在困难，而这两者对于后期阅读理解都至关重要。由于已知这些儿童有后期阅读理解困难的风险，因此设计并测试能够培养字面语言和推理语言技能的干预措施非常重要。我们采用随机前测-后测对照组设计，研究了为期8周的一对一图书分享干预是否能提高有语言障碍的“启智计划”学龄前儿童的字面语言和推理语言技能。
30名儿童被随机分配到一个未接受干预的对照组或一个治疗组，治疗组每周接受两次15分钟的课程，由成年人读书，并使用贯穿文本的脚本就图书提出字面和推理问题。使用2项字面语言测量指标的前测和后测分数以及1项推理语言技能测量指标对治疗组和对照组进行比较。
在所有3项测量指标的前测和后测分数之间发现了显著的组间差异以及中等到较大的效应量。
这些发现表明，通过带有针对字面语言和推理语言技能的嵌入式问题的图书分享，可以使该群体在这两种语言能力上都有所提高。需要开展有更多儿童参与的未来研究来证实这些发现。
