Can Center-Based Care Reduce Summer Slowdown Prior to Kindergarten? Exploring Variation by Family Income, Race/Ethnicity, and Dual Language Learner Status

This study examines growth in language and math skills during the summer before kindergarten; considers variation by family income, race/ethnicity, and dual language learner status; and tests whether summer center-based care sustains preschool gains. Growth in skills slowed during summer for all children, but the patterns varied by domain and group. Non-White and dual language learner students showed the largest drop-off in language skills during summer. Lower-income students demonstrated slower summer growth in math skills than their higher-income peers. Students enrolled in summer center-based care had faster growth in math skills than those who did not attend care. Yet lower-income students who attended center-based care showed slower growth in language skills during summer than similar nonattenders. Implications are discussed.

EARLY MEDIA VIEWING IMPACTS ON DUAL LANGUAGES ACQUISITION OF A YOUNG LEARNER

Despite all benefits of technology, a young child who is exposed to two languages through early media viewing may experience language development problems. It may consequently lead one to undergo therapies which can be counterproductive to their developmental milestones, especially to their dual language development. This research aims to gain deeper insights into the impacts of early media viewing on a young child's early dual language acquisition. A case study of a young dual language learner experiencing language development problems diagnosed as symptoms of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was conducted by interviewing participant’s parents to gain preliminary data about his language development problems. Observations took place during 108-hour language intervention sessions. The finding shows that early dual language exposure through early media viewing without adequate social interaction with peers and adults pertinently results in language development problems which are prone to be interpreted as symptoms of ASD rather than as a natural process of bilingualism.

Dual language learners' grit, engagement, and literacy achievement in elementary school

The goal of this short-term longitudinal study was to examine the functioning of the grit measure; grit's relation to emotional engagement; and grit's prediction of later literacy achievement, above and beyond emotional engagement, among dual language learners. Data were collected at two time points four months apart with dual language learner, third- through fifth-grade students ( n = 142; 75% Latina/o; mean age 9.47 years old; 54% female). Results suggested that student- and teacher-reported grit scores were reliable and fit the two-factor construct, and grit overlapped with engagement. We found that teacher-reported engagement and student- and teacher-reported grit perseverance of effort (grit-pe) were significant sole predictors of Time 2 literacy achievement; teacher-reported engagement, not grit, remained a significant sole predictor even when controlling for Time 1 literacy achievement. When including grit-pe, grit consistency of interests, and engagement in the same model, student-reported grit-pe was the only significant predictor of Time 2 literacy achievement, without Time 1 literacy as a control. Discussion centers on grit-pe's utility for prediction of literacy achievement, above and beyond similar socioemotional constructs, among young dual language learners.

Filling an Information Gap in Preschool MTSS and RTI Decision Making

A tenet of multitiered systems of support and response to intervention (MTSS-RTI) is that lack of response to instructional intervention is explained by classroom experiences and behaviors given opportunities to learn. We investigated the potential of filling this information gap in MTSS-RTI decision making using ecobehavioral observation to inform steps that could be taken for children not responding to preschool literacy instruction. Data analyses indicated that (a) teachers implemented a uniform pattern of daily activities providing children with infrequent opportunity to learn literacy, (b) the proportion of children’s co-occurring academic engagement also was low but varied widely depending on the activity and teacher’s literacy focus, and (c) children’s personal risk characteristics moderated the strength of relationships. Novel was the finding that in some activities and teacher behaviors, teachers appeared to be differentiating instruction benefiting children with individualized education programs and dual-language-learner risk. Implications are discussed.