Use of a parent questionnaire in emergent and early literacy assessment of preschool children.

Objective: The purpose of this project was to evaluate the use of a parent questionnaire in the assessment of emergent and early literacy skills of preschool children with language impairments (LI) and their typically developing (TD) peers to determine the relationship between parent report and more formal measures of early literacy, as well as to compare home literacy practices of these two groups of children.

Methods: Preschool children with LI (n = 17) were referred by area school district speech-language pathologists, and age-matched peers (n = 20) were recruited from local preschools. Examiner-administered measures of early literacy included assessment of rhyme, knowledge of environmental print, knowledge of print conventions, and letter-name and letter-sound knowledge, as well as analyses of narrative abilities. The parent questionnaire included 31 closed questions with responses chosen on a 5-point scale that addressed a number of domains of knowledge: phonological awareness, response to print in the environment, alphabet knowledge, interactions around books, writing, orientation to literacy, and parent practices, in addition to a number of open-ended questions.

Results: Results revealed a strong relationship between examiner-administered measures of early literacy and parent report for the children with LI only. Parents of children with LI rated their children more poorly across domains of literacy knowledge than did parents of the comparison group. Finally, a comparison of home literacy practices found differences between the groups in time spent watching television, age parents began reading to the child, and number of books owned by the child.

Conclusions: Findings support the use of parent report as a tool in the assessment of emergent and early literacy knowledge and skills for children with LI.