A new study by The Kids Research Institute Australia has found current early intervention programs are failing to identify a large proportion of children with language and literacy problems.
The study's Lead Author Professor Steve Zubrick said it was typically assumed that children who are going to struggle with literacy problems will show signs from a young age and screening programs were therefore targeted at children between the ages of 2 and 5.
However The Kids Research Institute Australia research, published today in the international journal PLOS ONE, found children's literacy performance was unpredictable and could drop off at any time.
"We found fifty-three percent of children with low literacy at age 10 were not in the low performance groups for language at ages 4, 6 and 8 years," Professor Zubrick said.
"For these children, identification at an earlier age was not possible. Under the current framework, they would likely fall through the cracks and not get the support they need."
Professor Zubrick said the results have challenged the view that children's progress along the oral to literate continuum is stable and predictable.
"These findings suggest we need to rethink the current model for identifying language and literacy problems in children," Professor Zubrick said.
"While early intervention is of course important, we need to ensure that we check back in with kids at all stages of development to make sure they have not fallen behind."
"Without adequate language and literacy skills, children can struggle in all areas of life. At school, it can impact their ability to communicate with their teacher or peers. If left unchecked, it can limit their ability to go on to higher education, secure a job and develop meaningful relationships."
-- ENDS --
Snapshot of the findings:
- The study found that children's progress along the oral to literate continuum is hard to predict because children's performance varies greatly from one age to the next.
- The most common developmental pattern was starting on track and staying on track. Sixty-nine percent of children started on-track and stayed on-track in their language and literacy development from 4 - 10 years.
- One of the least common patterns was a persistent low pattern of performance over time. Less than 1% of all children were in the low group at ages 4, 6, 8 and 10 years.
- Eight percent of children fit an improving pattern - their performance improved over time.
- However, 10% of children fit a declining pattern - their performance was worse over time.
- Due to the volatility of language and literacy development these patterns were difficult to predict.
- Nevertheless, three substantial risk factors for low literacy abilities at 10 years were identified. Low early school readiness, Indigenous status and low language ability heightened children's risk of progression towards low literacy ability.
Click on the below link to read a copy of the paper: