Parent–child pre–school activities can affect the development of literacy skills

This paper considers the nature of joint (parent–child) pre–school activities in the home, and their potential to contribute to the development of early reading skills. Parents gave details of the nature and frequency of any play–based activities that they routinely completed with their children. Their children were assessed on various aspects of phonological awareness, as well as their receptive vocabulary and short–term memory at four years old. One year later they completed a similar battery that also included measures of reading and spelling ability. Children who engaged in a variety of pre–school, parent–child activities showed the best achievement in reading one year later. The frequency of joint activities was also found to impact on reading attainment, vocabulary, memory and aspects of phonological awareness. The importance of shared storybook reading for later independent reading ability was reiterated by this study.