Abilità di apprendimento di lettura e scrittura in bambini in età prescolare e predittori di rischio

The years from birth through age 5 are a critical time for children’s development and learning. Early childhood educators understand that at home and in early childhood education settings, young children learn important skills that can provide them with the cornerstones needed for the development of later academic skills. These patterns of learning in preschool are closely linked to later achievement: children who develop more skills in the preschool years perform better in the primary grades. The development of early skills appears to be particularly important in the area of literacy. It is estimated that more than a third of all graders (and an even higher percentage of our at-risk students) read so poorly that they cannot complete their schoolwork successfully. Providing young children with the critical precursor skills to reading and writing can offer a path to improving overall achievement (Teale & Sulzby, 1986; Badian, 1988; Tressoldi & Vio, 1996; Whitehurst & Loningan, 1998; Ehri et al., 2005; Pepi, 2004; Cornoldi & Tressoldi, 2007; Pinto et al., 2009; Puranik & Lonigan, 2011). The purpose of this research is to identify and discuss areas of emerging evidence on the relationship between early childhood literacy experiences and subsequent reading acquisition. We do not wish to minimize the role of oral language in early literacy development, for it serves as a companion to the development of reading and writing. First, dimensions of literacy knowledge and literacy experiences are discussed, based on data from recent primary studies and reviews of emergent literacy research. Then areas of emerging evidence are examined for instructional implications for children entering school with diverse literacy experiences (Lonigan et al., 2009 ). In general, purpose of this study was to examine the correlations between indirect and direct measures of emergent literacy skills. Another the purpose of the present study was to examine the research that correlate emergent literacy skills and risk factors of learning disabilities in children in reading and writing . Although many advances have been made in early identification and intervention for students with reading disabilities, there has been less progress in identifying the elaboration of an effective assessment tool (in the Italian language and the languages transparent and semi-transparent like Italian) or “universal screening” for the early identification of learning disabilities that includes all the variables directly and indirectly involved in the learning of reading and writing (Jiménez, 2010; Lonigan et al., 2011). Standardized tools that assess learning to read and writing and can be accurate in identifying variables "at risk" of learning disabilities. Because some of these students may have experienced difficulty with reading from the beginning of their school careers, but other students confront reading and writing problems for the first time in primary school. Appropriate tools have been used for an assessment of all the skills involved in learning to read and write, according to the theoretical model of The National Early Literacy Panel (NELP; see Lonigan, Schatschneider, & Westberg, 2008a). Furthermore, we have involved the teachers in the early identification , we have showed confirming the literature that have a crucial role in learning processes. Instead, the present study is a longitudinal study in two phases (two years from 2012 to 2013), in which they were observed variables involved in learning to read and write in children from last year of kindergarten until first year of primary school. An important role in this research has been given to the influence of socio-cultural context and home literacy experiences or environment which have an important role (Puranik et al., 2010; Jiménez et al., 2009). Some children who have been assessed as "at risk" during the screening of the first phase were included in a specific training. In general, this research is divided into three main parts and three chapters: From emergent literacy to the risk profiles of learning of reading and writing in children (chapters I) Risk factors of learning disabilities in children : a systematic review and international meta-analysis (chapters II) The construction of a risk profile in reading and writing in pre-school-age children (chapters III) These three chapters are organized as three separate searches but that are related to each other by the study of the foundations of learning to read and write in typical and atypical development. The study of learning prerequisites of reading and writing as evidenced by the extensive literature throughout the world is crucial because are involved the life span. In particular, this research is characterized by the following specific and general objectives (Table 1) .