Nemours BrightStart! Research

Nemours BrightStart! Dyslexia Initiative has two primary goals with regard to the science of early reading development and early detection of dyslexia:

1. To utilize solid, scientifically obtained knowledge about how pre-school age children begin the process of learning to read as a guide for all aspects of our program.

To this end, we use standardized, empirically supported measurement tools to identify children who show significant weaknesses on skills that are causally linked to later reading ability. Some examples of these measurement tools include:

• Get Ready to Read (www.grtr.org)
• Test of Preschool Early Literacy (TOPEL; Lonigan, 2006)

In addition, we have developed an intervention for pre-kindergarten children who are identified as being at risk for reading failure, which focuses on essential elements of three critical pre-reading skills:

Print Knowledge skills, including letter identification, letter sounds, print concepts, and emergent writing

Oral Language skills, including story comprehension and vocabulary knowledge

Phonological Awareness skills, including syllable blending and segmentation, rhyming, and alliteration

We also incorporate into our intervention scientifically supported teaching techniques, such as:

• Explicit, systematic instruction
• Multisensory delivery
• Modeling
• Repetition
• Small-group size
  

2. To conduct translational research within the scope of the Nemours BrightStart! Dyslexia Initiative and disseminate information about our science-based emergent literacy assessment and intervention program for pre-school age children.

In addition to the general examination of the outcomes of our intervention, we are designing studies to examine issues relevant to implementing a large, community based assessment and prevention-intervention program for four-year-olds at risk for reading failure and possible dyslexia.

Some of the topics currently being studied are:

• The feasibility of having child-care workers reliably assess children for pre-reading skills deficits
• The overall fidelity and consistency of intervention delivery by our teachers
• The moderating effects of child, family and social variables on the overall effectiveness of our intervention
• The relative benefit of adding a brief parent-training component to the child-centered intervention

The following is a link to the Florida Center for Reading Research website, which provides a bibliography of relevant scientific articles on the various aspects of the development of reading: http://www.fcrr.org/science/science.htm