Can an app a day keep illiteracy away? Piloting the efficacy of Reading Doctor apps for preschoolers with developmental language disorder.

This study investigated the efficacy of three Reading Doctor (RD) apps in raising letter-sound aptitude, phoneme awareness and early decoding ability among children with heightened risk for reading difficulties due to developmental language disorder (DLD). Twenty-four 4-year-old children with DLD, identified through baseline speech-language assessments, in their final term of pre-school participated in this study. In the experimental condition, 14 children participated twice a week in three RD apps for 8 weeks.

Classroom phonological awareness instruction and literacy outcomes in the first year of school.

Purpose: Despite strong investment in raising literacy achievement for all children, significant inequalities in literacy outcomes continue to exist among some of the world's most advanced economies. This study investigated the influence of a short, intensive period of phonological awareness (PA) instruction implemented by classroom teachers on raising the literacy achievement of children with and without spoken language impairment (SLI).

Method: A quasi-experimental design was employed to measure the PA, reading, and spelling development of one hundred twenty-nine 5-year-olds.