Increasing print awareness in preschoolers with language impairment using non-evocative print referencing.

PURPOSE This study examined the extent to which using non-evocative, explicit referencing of print concepts during shared storybook reading in the context of language therapy facilitated print concept knowledge in children with language impairment. METHOD Five children, ages 4 to 5 years, were provided scripted input on 20 print concepts during shared storybook reading that was incorporated into individualized 30-min language intervention sessions that were conducted in the children's classroom twice weekly. The children were not required to make any response to the input on print concepts, and the input was secondary to instruction in the language targets during the 10-min shared storybook reading activity. RESULTS Using a single-subject, multiple probe design across subjects, results indicated that children's knowledge of print concepts improved markedly when the procedure was incorporated into shared storybook reading and that they continued to learn and maintain knowledge of print concepts with repeated input. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS These findings suggest that children with language impairment may benefit from simple non-evocative, explicit referencing strategies that can be easily incorporated into the context of storybook reading during language therapy, thus providing speech-language pathologists with an additional tool for facilitating children's literacy skills.