Mesezene: Introducing a new Hungarian approach in fostering language skills to prepare reading in kindergarten

The Mesezene method is an alternative pedagogical initiative that builds upon the knowledge of speech and language therapy and special needs education. The present study introduces the pillars of the method as well as discussing the pilot studies conducted in the field. According to previous assessments, the application of the programme in kindergarten has a positive effect on children’s phonological awareness on both the phonemic and syllable level. The training programme also provides a specific effect on children’s rapid automatised naming, while leaving the phonological short-term memory untouched.