EVALUATION OF HOME LITERACY ENVIRONMENT: AN ILLUSTRATION WITH PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME

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Abstract
We show how a microexploration can be used to evaluate the home literacy (reading and writing) environment of preschool children with disabilities. In addition, we offer an initial descriptive informational base about home literacy for preschoolers with Down syndrome that is based on the findings of the microexploration. The goal of the microexploration was to describe the extent and nature of literacy artifacts, references, and events in the homes of 3 preschool children with Down syndrome. A trained observer visited the children's homes, completed checklists of literacy artifacts, tape‐recorded everything that occurred indoors, and took fieldnotes. Analyses were done from three perspectives: (a) From transcripts of the tape recordings, verbalizations were coded into categories of literacy references and events, as well as other categories, (b) Patterns were derived from the transcripts and fieldnotes. (c) Storybook sharings were analyzed for a variety of story‐meaning‐related and other types of talk. On the basis of the results of these multiple analyses of observations, an initial summary description of the home literacy environment of preschoolers with Down syndrome is offered: (a) The homes of the preschoolers with Down syndrome were print rich, and literacy references and events did occur, but at a modest level. (b) Variety in type of literacy activity was negligible, with nearly all of the literacy event time consumed by storybook sharing. (c) Mothers’ styles of sharing storybooks with their children varied, with one style more likely than the others to be associated with literacy and language development. Intervention recommendations are made on the basis of the initial informational base.