Parent training of print referencing behaviors during shared book reading and emergent literacy skills of preschool children

The effect of parent training in the use of print referencing behaviors during shared book reading on the early literacy development of preschool children was investigated using a randomized pretest-posttest control group research design. Six parent-child dyads were randomly assigned to either the control group or experimental group. Experimental and control group subjects completed a 3--5 week reading program and were asked to participate in 3 shared book reading interactions per week and document information regarding the quality of the interaction. A pretest and posttest session was also conducted, consisting of a shared book reading interaction between the parent and child and an early literacy assessment. The experimental group parents also participated in three parent training sessions regarding the use of print referencing to target rhyming, letter/sound identification, and print awareness during shared book reading. Results revealed a significant positive relationship between training parents to use print referencing behaviors during shared book reading and the number of times parents used these behaviors during the pretest and posttest sessions. However, findings also revealed no significant relationship between training parents to use print referencing skills targeting rhyming, letter/sound identification, and print awareness and the children's performance on the early literacy assessment tasks evaluating these skills.