Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children

by Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children, National Research Council, Catherine E. Snow (Editor)

While most children learn to read fairly well, there remain many young Americans whose futures are imperiled because they do not read well enough to meet the demands of our competitive, technology-driven society. This book explores the problem within the context of social, historical, cultural, and biological factors. Recommendations address the identification of groups of children at risk, effective instruction for the preschool and early grades, effective approaches to dialects and bilingualism, the importance of these findings for the professional development of teachers, and gaps that remain in our understanding of how children learn to read. Implications for parents, teachers, schools, communities, the media, and government at all levels are discussed. The book examines the epidemiology of reading problems and introduces the concepts used by experts in the field. In a clear and readable narrative, word identification, comprehension, and other processes in normal reading development are discussed. Against the background of normal progress, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children examines factors that put children at risk of poor reading. It explores in detail how literacy can be fostered from birth through kindergarten and the primary grades, including evaluation of philosophies, systems, and materials commonly used to teach reading.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reference book used in graduate school and in the completion of my thesis. I didn't read the entire book as the entire book did not apply to my area of expertise, but the book is a fairly comprehensive reference on reading related cognitive processes, learning strategies, difficulties.

[Jeremy]

This is the kind of book that you don't read from cover to cover - otherwise it will bore the intestines out of you! Skim it for nuggets of teaching advice; especially good for bilingual teaching.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent.