New Program Helps Preschoolers To Imbibe Reading and Social Skills

It is possible to teach preschoolers the pre-reading skills they need for later school success, while at the same time fostering the socials skills necessary for making friends and avoiding conflicts with their peers, suggest researchers.

In the current study, the researchers suggest a new program that can teach preschoolers reading skills along fostering social skills.

Dyslexia - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Dyslexia is a reading disability that occurs when the brain does not properly recognize and process certain symbols.

In the new program known as the REDI (Research-Based, Developmentally Informed) Head Start program, the researchers combined a program that fosters social and emotional development (Preschool PATHS) with curriculum components that promote language development and pre-reading skills.

REDI program emphasizes pre-reading skills such as learning the alphabet, and learning to manipulate the sounds that letters represent.

It also allows ample time for teachers to read interactively with children, asking them questions and encouraging their active involvement in story telling, which builds the vocabulary and language skills needed for later school success.

Development Milestone
Medindia offers a milestone chart for the growing child, by which we can determine the activities of the baby at various stages of the growth.

Many of the reading sessions focus on social problems and involve fictional characters that learn to master the emotional frustrations and conflicts common among groups of preschoolers.

"The lesson teach them to take a time out from their emotions, to avoid acting impulsively," said Karen Bierman, Ph.D., distinguished professor of Psychology at Penn State University.

New Software Scans Listeners' Brains to Discern Who Said What
Dutch researchers have developed a mind-reading software program that can scan a brain to decipher the sounds spoken to a person.

"Stating what's bothering them, and how they feel, is the basis for self control and problem solving in stressful social situations," Bierman added.

Other lessons involve learning how to recognize such emotions as anger and sadness in oneself and others, sharing, and taking turns.

Extra Time for Students With Learning Disabilities Does Not Skew SAT Scores
Requests for extended time are the most common but contentious accommodation requests made by students with learning disabilities (LD

When compared to children in the traditional Head Start program, children in the REDI program scored higher on several tests of emotional and social development than did children in the traditional program.

Children in the REDI program also scored higher on several tests of pre-reading skills involving vocabulary, blending letter sounds together to form words, separating words into their component letter sounds, and in naming the letters of the alphabet.

Source-ANI
SRM