Session Information
04 SES 04 C, Supporting Reading and Language Development
Paper Session
Time:
2009-09-28
16:00-17:30
Room:
NIG, HS C
Chair:
Martyn Rouse
Contribution
Despite the importance of screening process and early didactic intervention on preschool children risking reading failure, the implementation of standardized didactic procedures in Italian kindergartens is still episodic. Early identification, starting from the beginning of the school career is an important challenge for any school system. It enables the adoption of didactic strategies, specific tools and ICT resources to enhance the inclusive development of didactic activities and to facilitate the learning process for the whole class group (Booth & Ainscow, 2004).
As it has been done elsewhere in the world (from the USA to Europe and China), at the Faculty of Education of the Free University of Bolzano (Italy) we designed a didactic path and a screening process, covering children from the last class of kindergarten to the second grade of primary school. This project is carried out in cooperation with the Integration Office of the Italian School System of the Province of Bolzano and Erickson Labs Company.
The research’s main goals are the enrichment of teachers’ skills when it comes to identifying risks of learning difficulties and the creation of didactic tools, strategies and activities to be carried out with children during the every-day school life.
In order to reach this goal, we designed an interactive screening tool -“Dov’è la mia vasca?”, Where is my bathtub?- that is a multimedia software, structured as a cartoon, customized on five year-old children. The software is meant to be used directly by teachers and pupils and to be a funny, motivating and friendly environment, featuring high-quality graphics and professional audio. The software includes eight tests in five different cognitive areas: metaphonological awareness, spatial memory, verbal memory, phonological loop, visual/spatial skills.
Moreover we offer didactic activities and labs to kindergarten children and teachers, aimed to practice all those cognitive skills, that are prerequisites to writing and reading and that are tested by the software.
We will compare the data we will gather by means of the software with those resulting from a traditional paper-based screening process managed by Erickson Labs group on the same sample of children. Both tools will investigate the same cognitive areas, even if some tests and items are different, because of the software’s digital nature and time length.
Method
The research program is a three year-long project, started in November 2007 and ending in November 2010.
A team composed by kindergarten teachers, didactic experts and developmental psychologists, discusses each step related to the research.
The sample includes 350 children (Italian native speakers), 28 kindergartens and 85 teachers.
Two different screening phases (January and May) are planned every year to collect data in kindergartens, using both screening tools.
Starting from 2009/10 two screening tests will be given to all th children in the first class of primary school (using the “16 words dictate” test of Giacomo Stella). We will compare the data we collect on each pupil with data collected in kindergarten to evaluate the screening tools’ effectiveness and validity.
In September 2009 a wider range of didactic activities and games will be provided to kindergartens and a second year of screening will begin.
Expected Outcomes
We expect:
- kindergarten teachers to develop a deeper attention on cognitive abilities related with reading and writing prerequisites;
- the didactic path we developed to become a standardized procedure, starting from 2010 in the kindergarten school system of the Province of Bolzano;
- to identify children at risk of learning difficulties or dyslexia and to activate a fruitful cooperation between kindergarten and primary school teachers. This would be instrumental to transmitting information and setting up didactic strategies for children with low results or at risk of dyslexia, in order to create an inclusive didactic environment.
- to collect evidence on the software’s effectiveness in identifying children at risk and on its benefits, compared to paper-based tests.
References
Booth T. Ainscow M. (2004), Index for inclusion. Developing learning and participation in schools, Centre for studies on Inclusive Education -CSIE-, Bristol, UK .
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