Running Head: OLDEN CHILD STUDY

From verbal to literate: A study of one childs letter learning Kate Olden Trinity University, EDTE 614

OLDEN CHILD STUDY Introduction W is a 4 year, 8 month old female, born on August 5, 2007. She is maturing physically and no longer shows much evidence of a baby-like roundness to her features. While her attendance is spotty, only approximately 75%, whenever she does come to school, she is obviously well cared for by her parents. She is always dressed in clothing that fits, is in good

condition, and clean. Her usual lunch is either a salad with hot dog or a Lunchable. W is healthy and has no significant medical history of which I am aware. She is outgoing when emotionally comfortable, approaching her peers to initiate play and adding creatively to play scenarios. When she does not feel social, she enjoys playing on the computer and can navigate the pbskids.org website very independently in search of games she enjoys. However, when W is not emotionally comfortable, she is likely to be highly anxious and emotional, becoming withdrawn and prone to tears. For example, if she falls asleep at nap, she is likely to cry and ask for her mother when awoken. When she is not completely emotionally comfortable she refuses to take on new activities or challenges. As her classroom teacher, speaking with her parents and her previous teachers, I have learned that W is the oldest daughter of a married couple in their late twenties. The parents both emigrated from El Salvador several years ago and have limited English skills. The family, which includes another daughter, age 2, and will soon include a new baby as well, lives below the poverty line. Since the Fall, they have moved homes twice. Ws father is the only wage earner, working at night as a club deejay, and the number of hours he works has changed often. Recently, the mother has experienced complications with her pregnancy and has been confined to bed rest. Then, Ws father was forced to withdraw her from school after his work hours were

OLDEN CHILD STUDY cut back to only two nights a week and his job search kept him from being able to reliably drop off and pick up W at school (which is a requirement of the program.)

Concern for Ws academic skills began in January 2012 when it became apparent that her skills were was not improving in comparison to her October 2011 assessments. Most obvious and concerning was that her name formation on the daily sign-in sheet had remained in the controlled linear scribble phase (Heroman et al., 2010); she zigzags across the page. The expected level for her age group is to be making mock letters, letter strings, or a partially correct name (Heroman et al., 2010). Further examination of her drawings and paintings indicated a similar delay in her ability to draw representationally. She continues in the scribbling phase (Hirsh, 2004; Donley, 1987) with only occasional extensions into more preschematic representations, usually circles with lines for arms and legs. According to her age, W would be expected to be firmly into the preschematic drawing phase (Donley, 1987). When asked about what she wrote on the daily sign-in sheet, W regularly pointed to her long zigzagging line and identified it as a W. Assessment of Ws name writing thus led to parallel assessment of her letter recognition, the results of which are below what is expected for her age. In formal assessments she identified only the W independently, although during informal observations over time she was also documented naming the letters O and K and recognizing the letters B, C, R, D, and S as corresponding to the names of other children in the room. This is similar to her counting skills; she currently begins to have difficulty in rote counting or quantifying past the numbers 5 or 6. Cognitively, however, W is performing well above expectations for the scribbling phases or her proven memory for letters and numbers. She is able to tell appropriately detailed stories about what it is she is drawing in both English and Spanish. Ws English proficiency has been

OLDEN CHILD STUDY rated at advancing on the GOLD assessment system (Heroman et al., 2010), both in terms of comprehension and speaking. She clearly understands two step directions and can carry on a conversation of several exchanges on a familiar topic in English. From these initial assessments of Ws work samples and letter recognition, it became apparent that she is behind her age group and that, in order to prepare her for kindergarten next Fall, it would be beneficial to provide her with regular one-on-one time with a teacher focused on letter recognition and fine motor formation leading to writing skills. With her upcoming admission into kindergarten in mind, and working from both the GOLD assessment system (Heroman et al., 2010) and the DC Early Learning Standards (OSSE, 2008), the goals for this study were: 1. The child will begin to make mock letters or letter-like forms when writing her name. 2. The child will be able to identify at least 10 letters, starting with the letters in her first name. For the first several sessions, these goals were undertaken within the preschool classroom, mostly during the rest hour when younger children sleep and older children, such as W, may read quietly if they are not sleepy. The classroom is structured and taught using the

Creative Curriculum (2010), and all interventions were undertaken within the scope and spirit of this project-oriented and mostly child-driven approach. After the child was removed from school, subsequent interventions took place at her home.

Review of the relevant literature The literature surrounding the topics of preschool curriculum, emergent writing skills, and letter recognition led the interventions with W in very specific directions. These can best be

OLDEN CHILD STUDY thought of as reasons to intervene in Ws case, ways to intervene in Ws case, and how to interpret the results of any intervention with W. Why to intervene Research, curriculum, and policy have a great deal to say on childrens literacy learning. Explicit expectations exist for childrens learning as they approach and enter kindergarten, mainly that they recognize at least 10 letters and are beginning to write their names and to write with meaning (Heroman et al., 2010, OSSE, 2008). Actual expectations are likely to be even

higher, depending on the other children in the class. For example, one DC area principal expects kindergarten children to begin the year able to identify all 26 letters in the alphabet and to write their names legibly (Kate Van Slyck, personal communication, March 7, 2012). It can be easier on both teachers and students when children have similar levels of knowledge and skills. Kindergarten and early primary grade aged children are becoming much more self-aware and begin to compare their performance with the performance of the other children around them. Children are aware of discrepancies between what they can do and the expectations of adults as well as any discrepancies with their peers skills (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). How to intervene In achieving standardized and norm-based academic expectations, it is important to be aware of childrens developmental continuum and the complex interactions between their emotional, cognitive and physical development. Inappropriate methods may fail to optimally support a childs development of the desired skills, the absorption of new knowledge into their long-term memories, or their response to learning and schooling in general. In any kind of intervention, many direct instructional approaches are inappropriate for preschool children; encouragement, exposure, and experience are more likely to result in true learning for children

OLDEN CHILD STUDY ages three to five (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Elkind, 2012; Hirsh, 2004; Longcamp, ZerbatuPoudou, & J. Velay, 2005). However, because there is a moderate correlation between understanding the mechanics of the writing system and reading in the primary grades (Heroman

et al., 2010), a more direct but still developmentally appropriate intervention would not be out of the question for a child who is struggling to achieve the same level of skill as her peers. Copple and Bredekamp (2009) call it the alphabetic principle, the knowledge that letters stand for sounds and come together to make language with which we can express ourselves. Elkind (2012) aligns the development of reading and writing skills with Piagets stages for the construction of number, claiming that it is not until the beginning of the concrete operational phase, around the age of 5 or 6, that children can allow a single thing to be defined in multiple ways, which agrees with the developmentally appropriate guidelines written by Copple and Bredekamp (2009). Applied to literacy, this means that it is not until this stage that a child can truly grasp the idea of letters as individual units where each letter is like every other in being a letter but different from every other in the way it appears and is sounded (Elkind, 2012, p. 85). While rote learning may appear to be effective with preschoolers, knowledge and skills achieved may not be true understandings because they do not yet understand the complex and oft-broken rules behind the English language. Elkind (2012) also warns that children who come to depend on such rote learning to acquire new knowledge will be at a disadvantage later, as rote learning discourages a child from using the inductive, discovery, and problem-solving strategies require for learning more advanced subject matter (p. 86). However, critiquing this from a more Vygotsky-based point of view, one could argue that the entrance to this awareness of text and meaning can be scaffolded for a child by the teacher in order to assist the child in recognizing these features. From this point of view it is possible for

OLDEN CHILD STUDY the teacher to compromise with the norms-based standards and still address learning in developmentally appropriate ways. Research makes explicit that in teaching children to read and write, one is dealing with

long term memory (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hirsh, 2004). To learn to recognize letters is to retain in long-term memory an understanding of their structure and purpose (Elkind, 2012). Drawing on the emergent literacy perspective, Chapman (2006) found that childrens literacy skills developed most fully in contexts that promoted meaning and purpose in writing and reading activities. Also part of this emergent literacy perspective is the belief that given adequate time, opportunity, and materials to practice, childrens writing skills advance as a result of childrens intrinsic interest in taking part in a meaningful activity (Heroman et al., 2010). For this reason, it makes sense to begin with the childs first name, a meaningful word that she sees regularly and with which she is already familiar. Further goals and interventions could be based on letters or words that have similarly rich meaning for her, such as family names or an item of interest. Chapmans (2006) review of literacy research makes clear that childrens learning to write is a complex and multifaceted process, which means that instructors cannot rely on any single approach for all situations. Copple and Bredekamp (2009) do not support efforts toward directly teaching proper letter formation during the preschool years, focusing instead on providing opportunities to engage with the meaningfulness of writing. Heroman et al. (2010) make clear that children do need to understand letters roles as symbols of language, but they also recommend teachers open discussion of directionality and letter formation while writing. The combination of the fine motor skills involved in writing with letter recognition is backed up by the research. Drawing on the social constructivist perspective, the convergence of

OLDEN CHILD STUDY Piaget and Vygotsky, Chapman (2006) pointed out that writing is part of the thinking process, because language and thought are interconnected. Longcamp, et al (2005) found that children who wrote letters (instead of typing them) were more likely to discern the unique structure and position of letters. This led the researchers to postulate that the brain learns to recognize letters both visually, through sight, and physically, through the act of letter formation by writing. Considering intervention results

Both methods and results must be considered within an environmental perspective. Social interaction plays an important role in childrens early attempts to write. This includes how parents interact with the child, how teachers interact with the child, and the general environment of the classroom when it comes to writing and reading (Baskwill & Harkins, 2009; Chapman, 2006; Tunks & Giles, 2009). Parents and teachers working together can encourage a young childs writing development in a way that promotes not only that childs mastery of the skills but their sense of mastery and positive self-image surrounding those skills (Baskwill & Harkins, 2009).

Intervention Summary This particular child, W, is at a cross-roads in her education when developmentally appropriate practice is often at a dissonance with academic and behavioral expectations. Analysis of her writing and related research strongly suggested that she could benefit from one-on-one time with a teacher that will provide her greater opportunity to form the fine motor skills necessary for writing and spend enough quality time with letters and literature to begin to identify more letters.

OLDEN CHILD STUDY The action plan for interventions evolved over time as the goals for the intervention became more specific, research brought clarity to the analysis of Ws challenges, and W expressed her own preferences for different intervention strategies. Consistent strategies have included writing with markers to copy and trace letters (either on dry erase slates or paper) and using stiff paper cut to form letter parts, as inspired by a program called Handwriting with Tears

[HWT]. W enjoyed using Letter School on the classroom IPad, but this was removed from the action plan after research showed that working on computers is less effective than working on paper (Longcamp et al, 2005). W asked for the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Martin & Archambault, 2009), which led to an alphabet book becoming a regular part of each session. As drawing was also something in which W was very interested, this was informally included in intervention strategies to allow her more opportunity for fine motor development as well as an emotional outlet for any stress she might feel during the session.

Reflecting on Results Looking at the changes in Ws writing development and letter recognition over the time period of the study reveals important data about the importance of the intervention and the challenges presented by Ws withdrawal from the school atmosphere. As shown in the graph below, her letter recognition was improving quickly, reaching a high of 8 letters just prior to her removal from school. After her removal, she has returned to only naming one letter, W.

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Figure 1: Letter Recognition as noted in study logbook, green line indicates date removed from school

This data (Figure 1) indicates that, unfortunately, the second goal of the study, to increase Ws letter recognition to at least 10 letters, did not occur. Prior to her removal from school on 3/12, Ws letter recognition was improving, although somewhat irregularly. Such inconsistencies, however, are to be expected in young childrens development (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Unfortunately, her removal from the school program precipitated a sharp decline in her letter recognition skills, likely due to less exposure and less explicit discussion of literacy in the home. The results surrounding Ws writing development were not as definitive as those regarding letter recognition. Her writing development, as indicated by grip style and letter formation (Heroman & Jones, 2010), was very inconsistent during the first part of the study. Because this skill is tied to her fine motor skills, it seemed appropriate to compare her writing development with her drawing development to identify any important correlations. Drawing development ratings were based on the stages to which her drawing products pointed (Hirsch, 2004).

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Vertical Axis Legend # DRAWING STAGE 3 preschematic 2 controlled scribbles 1 scribbling

WRITING STAGE letter forms, mock letters controlled linear scribbling scribbling

Figure 2: Subjects writing and drawing development, vertical axis scales based on Heroman et al (2010), Hirsh (2004), and Donley (1987). Green line indicates date W was withdrawn from school.

As the graph above (Figure 2) indicates. her writing and drawing development definitely correlate with each other, although her writing development is more inconsistent than her drawing. This could be a matter of Ws motivation, the more demanding nature of writing for the hands, or the particular interventions that took place on specific days. What is most worth noting here is that since removal from school, her writing and drawing development has leveled off and shown no improvement, which is concerning, given that by chronological age she is expected to be performing above even those stages listed in the graph. Her delay is likely compounded by her socio-emotional development and anxiety, previously mentioned in this papers introduction. At her last intervention session, W would only trace letters and refused to attempt any letters on her own. The study did not achieve its goal of helping W begin to independently write her name with mock letters or letter forms, nor the goal of identifying at least 10 letters. Despite the overall null outcomes of this study, there were mitigating factors to explain these, and there were

OLDEN CHILD STUDY positive results occurring prior to Ws removal from the school that indicate continued efforts will produce positive results, especially if the family is involved.

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Recommendations for the Future Interventions targeted to improve Ws letter recognition and fine motor development, in particular her writing, should continue. I intend to continue visiting with W once a week for an hour, to continue her exposure to literacy vocabulary in English and to observe her progress. In order to maintain more consistent improvement despite Ws not being in school, ways to involve her parents in supporting her letter recognition and fine motor development must be sought. As her parents struggle with literacy themselves, alternative strategies could include working with modeling clay, scissors, and sidewalk chalk. Also, now that she is no longer in the school program, and adherence to the Creative Curriculum approach is not so necessary, it is possible to bring in alternative supports and interventions, such as age appropriate workbooks, which would structure fine motor experiences for W that her parents cannot structure for her. It will be recommended to Ws parents that she do one or a combination of these options for 15 to 30 minutes each day in order to build her musculature and to regularly provide her with a schoolrelated experience. It would also be recommendable to try to connect with her kindergarten teacher prior to the beginning of the year to share observations about Ws development and social-emotional response toward school experiences.

Researchers Reflections Looking over the entire process and the ensuing results, I can identify an important lesson I have learned about assessing young children, as well as several factors where I could improve

OLDEN CHILD STUDY my future responses to students in similar situations. In terms of assessment, I found that work

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sampling analyzed using developmental spectrums yielded much more accurate results than most of my attempts at formal assessment using a letter recognition sheet. It was for this reason that I did not include many formal assessments but focused instead on work sampling and observations of W as she worked. There were also several factors surrounding the action plan where I could have improved the interventions I undertook with W. First and foremost, I believe that I could have been more willing to set aside philosophical bases of classroom curriculum in order to assist a child with significant delay through more explicit teaching strategies. I could have made up a more explicit action plan earlier on and informed my supervisors of the choices, reasons, and timing so that they would not be caught unawares when they saw these interventions taking place. Although the action plan evolved organically over time, as adheres to the Creative Curriculum used in the classroom, Ws results improved significantly when more formal approaches, including HWT letter parts, were added to the emergent writing opportunities being offered.