Phonological Awareness and Verbal Short-Term Memory

Many studies have established an association between early reading problems and deficiencies in certain spoken language skills, such as the ability to become aware of the syllabic structure of spoken words, and the ability to retain a string of words in verbal short-term memory. A longitudinal study now shows that inferior performance in kindergarten tests of these same skills may presage future reading problems in the first grade. Based on these findings, procedures are suggested for kindergarten screening and for some ways of aiding children who, by virtue of inferior performance on these tests, might be considered at risk for reading failure.