Silke Fricke | The University of Sheffield (original) (raw)
Papers by Silke Fricke
Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, Nov 1, 2023
Background Speech and language skills are important for social interaction and learning. This stu... more Background Speech and language skills are important for social interaction and learning. This study characterised the communication abilities of verbal individuals with SOX11 syndrome using a standardised parent/carer questionnaire, the Children's Communication Checklist (CCC-2). Method Thirteen parent/carers of verbal individuals (aged 5–19 years) diagnosed with SOX11 syndrome completed the CCC-2. In order to contextualise findings, responses were compared to norms and to data from Noonan syndrome, a relatively well-known genetic diagnosis associated with communication impairment. Results For all individuals, the CCC-2 composite score indicated significant communication difficulties. Language structure (speech, syntax, semantics and coherence), pragmatic language (inappropriate initiation, stereotyped language use of context and non-verbal communication) and autistic features (social relations and interests) scores were lower than typically developing norms. Subscale comparisons revealed relative difference in use of context compared to other pragmatic domains (stereotyped language and inappropriate initiation). Individual scores showed substantial variation, particularly in regard to language structure profile. Differences were more pronounced than for Noonan syndrome, specifically in domains of speech, syntax, non-verbal communication and social relations. Conclusions SOX11 syndrome is associated with communication impairment. It is important to assess communication abilities as part of the management of individuals with SOX11 syndrome and understand individual strengths and difficulties in order to provide targeted support.
Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, May 17, 2021
Childhood acquired brain injury (ABI) is associated with poorer life outcomes. Increasing numbers... more Childhood acquired brain injury (ABI) is associated with poorer life outcomes. Increasing numbers of children and young people are surviving severe brain injury and returning to mainstream schools with multiple impairments. It is widely acknowledged that for these children, their school becomes by default their rehabilitation centre. International studies of this transition and a recent UK government report criticize educators' inconsistent implementation of support strategies, lack of educator training and poor communication between clinicians, educators, child and family. The educators' perspectives of the return-toschool are, however, not well represented in the literature. This study therefore explored the experiences of educators in the UK (N = 10) who had recently facilitated a return-to-school of a child with ABI aged 8-12 (N = 5) using semi-structured interviews analysed by data-driven thematic analysis. The findings highlight common experiences: a continuum of intensive problem-solving with heavy reliance on the Special Educational Needs Coordinator; educators valuing collaboration with clinical specialists in context over general training'; uncertainty over the validity of implementing support strategies from prior teaching experience; uncertainty about how to support the child's emotional needs; and frustration with UK statutory processes for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Recommendations are made for changes to practice and future research. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Sprache-stimme-gehor, Sep 28, 2020
Discussion The present findings concerning phonological acquisition in Turkish-German bilinguals ... more Discussion The present findings concerning phonological acquisition in Turkish-German bilinguals confirm previous pilot studies and could be used as preliminary clinical guidance when diagnosing SSDs in Turkish-German bilingual children.
Child Language Teaching and Therapy, May 20, 2020
Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) possess lower levels of English vo... more Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) possess lower levels of English vocabulary knowledge relative to their non-EAL English-speaking peers. Longitudinal work suggests that this group discrepancy does not decrease markedly over time as a result of regular classroom teaching. Twelve EAL learners with English vocabulary weaknesses took part in a low-intensity, 10week vocabulary intervention. Working one-to-one with speech and language therapy students, children took part in weekly activities designed to promote receptive and productive knowledge of 20 target words within the Tier-2 vocabulary category. When assessed on a bespoke word knowledge assessment, children made statistically significant gains between pretest and posttest in both receptive and productive knowledge of taught words, and maintained this knowledge six months later. Multi-component explicit vocabulary instruction offering opportunities for active engagement and discussion is thus presented as one potentially effective means of promoting the Tier-2 vocabulary knowledge of EAL learners in primary school in England.
Reading and Writing, Oct 8, 2016
Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) show reading comprehension difficu... more Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) show reading comprehension difficulties despite adequate decoding. However, the relationship between early language and reading comprehension in this group is not fully understood. The language and literacy skills of 80 children learning English from diverse language backgrounds and 80 monolingual English-speaking peers with language weaknesses were assessed at school entry (mean age = 4 years, 7 months) and after 2 years of schooling in the UK (mean age = 6 years, 3 months). The EAL group showed weaker language skills and stronger word reading than the monolingual group but no difference in reading comprehension. Individual differences in reading comprehension were predicted by variations in decoding and language comprehension in both groups to a similar degree.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Nov 23, 2012
Background: Oral language skills in the preschool and early school years are critical to educatio... more Background: Oral language skills in the preschool and early school years are critical to educational success and provide the foundations for the later development of reading comprehension. Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, 180 children from 15 UK nursery schools (n = 12 from each setting; M age = 4;0) were randomly allocated to receive a 30-week oral language intervention or to a waiting control group. Children in the intervention group received 30 weeks of oral language intervention, beginning in nursery (preschool), in three group sessions per week, continuing with daily sessions on transition to Reception class (pre-Year 1). The intervention was delivered by nursery staff and teaching assistants trained and supported by the research team. Following screening, children were assessed preintervention, following completion of the intervention and after a 6-month delay. Results: Children in the intervention group showed significantly better performance on measures of oral language and spoken narrative skills than children in the waiting control group immediately after the 30 week intervention and after a 6 month delay. Gains in word-level literacy skills were weaker, though clear improvements were observed on measures of phonological awareness. Importantly, improvements in oral language skills generalized to a standardized measure of reading comprehension at maintenance test. Conclusions: Early intervention for children with oral language difficulties is effective and can successfully support the skills, which underpin reading comprehension.
Reading and Writing, Jan 5, 2022
The study explores whether foundational skills of reading and spelling in preschool (age 5-6) pre... more The study explores whether foundational skills of reading and spelling in preschool (age 5-6) predict literacy skills cross-linguistically in an additional language in Grade 1 (age 6-7). A sample of linguistically diverse preschool children completed tasks of phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge, verbal-short term memory, rapid automatized naming, and lexical knowledge in the language of preschool instruction Luxembourgish. The children were followed-up in Grade 1 where literacy skills were assessed in the language of schooling, i.e., German, after five months of literacy instruction. German was a non-native language for all children. Longitudinal correlations confirm that individual differences in single word/pseudoword reading and spelling in German in Grade 1 can be predicted by all the foundational literacy skills that were assessed in Luxembourgish. Path analyses showed that phonological awareness in Luxembourgish emerged as the strongest unique predictor of Grade 1 literacy skills in German. The second unique preschool predictor of Grade 1 literacy skills was letter-sound knowledge. Results are consistent with the view that literacy development in an additional language builds upon similar building blocks as literacy acquisition in a first language, at least for languages that are typologically close. However, current findings suggest that respective contributions between predictors and literacy skills in children learning to read in an additional language may vary from patterns observed in studies with children acquiring literacy in their first language.
British Council eBooks, Jan 20, 2016
Increasingly around the world children are engaging in Early Childhood Education and Care (aged 0... more Increasingly around the world children are engaging in Early Childhood Education and Care (aged 0-7) before entering primary school. At the same time, there is an increase in the extent to which non English-speaking children are taught English through educational provision. This volume brings these two issues together by offering both evidence-based global reviews and more localised research-oriented reports on current issues in teaching children English through ECEC internationally.
Journal of Research in Reading, Apr 30, 2020
Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are a growing population of learners in... more Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are a growing population of learners in English primary schools. These children begin school with differing levels of English language proficiency and tend to underperform in relation to their non-EAL peers on measures of English oral language and reading. However, little work has examined the developmental trajectories of these skills in EAL learners in England. EAL learners and 33 non-EAL peers in Year 4 (age 8-9 years) were assessed at three time points over 18 months on measures of oral language (vocabulary, grammar and listening comprehension), phonological processing (spoonerisms and rapid automatised naming) and reading skills (single-word decoding and passage reading). At t1, EAL learners scored significantly lower than non-EAL peers in receptive and expressive vocabulary (breadth but not depth), spoonerisms and passage reading accuracy. Contrary to previous research, no significant group differences were found in listening or reading comprehension skills. With the exception of passage reading accuracy, there was no evidence for convergence or divergence between the groups in rate of progress over time. After three years of English-medium classroom instruction, EAL learners continue to underperform relative to their non-EAL peers in breadth of English vocabulary knowledge. This discrepancy in vocabulary knowledge does not appear to narrow as a result of regular classroom instruction in the run up to the final stages of primary school, pinpointing vocabulary as a key target for intervention.
Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Jun 25, 2015
For professionals working with multihome language can present a challenge. This is largely due to... more For professionals working with multihome language can present a challenge. This is largely due to the scarcity of standardised and missing normative data on multilingual language acquisition. A common approach is to translate existing English language vocabulary measures into other languages. However, this approach does not take into account the cultural and linguistic differences between languages. This pilot study explored whether English and home language receptive vocabulary skills can be objectively and reliably screened using a tablet application. Preliminary data on mono-and multilingual vocabulary skills was collected from 139 children aged 6-7 years. A tablet application was designed to E a four choice picture paradigm. Linguistically controlled and pre-recorded target items are presented orally via the tablet in each language and responses are made via the touchscreen and automatically scored. The English version of the test was administered to 67 mono-and 72 multilingual children, while 38 multilingual children also completed the test in their home language. Test criteria measures, including reliability and concurrent validity showed satisfactory results. These findings suggest that the tablet application could be a useful tool for professionals to screen receptive vocabulary skills in mono-and multilingual children. Limitations of the first version of the RVS and future steps are discussed.
Data was collected while Cecilia Zuniga-Montanez and Claudine Bowyer-Crane were based at the Nati... more Data was collected while Cecilia Zuniga-Montanez and Claudine Bowyer-Crane were based at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) 'Making sure that people are in a good place is draining, and nobody does that for me': The pandemic and its ongoing impact on teachers and headteachers Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the way education was provided changed during two academic years. Schools saw an increase in their workload and scope of their responsibilities which impacted staff members physically, mentally and professionally. This study aimed to report how the pandemic and school disruptions impacted teachers and other staff members, and how their experience has been since all restrictions have been lifted. Twenty-three staff members from 21 primary schools participating in the ICICLES project were interviewed with a semi-structured online interview. Overall, results showed that the pandemic was challenging for staff members and that their workload and physical and mental wellbeing were affected. Even though restrictions in England have been lifted since the summer of 2021, schools are still struggling and are still seeing the effect of the pandemic on their staff members' wellbeing. Findings from these interviews suggest that the impact of the pandemic and school disruptions might be more long-term than previously thought. Findings also highlight the need to include staff members in any discussions regarding recovery plans as they were and are still significantly impacted by the pandemic and school disruptions.
Journal of Research in Reading, Apr 5, 2022
Background: There is now substantial evidence that language interventions delivered to small grou... more Background: There is now substantial evidence that language interventions delivered to small groups can be effective for improving language skills and hence strengthening the foundation for formal schooling. However, there are remaining challenges when delivering such interventions in naturalistic environments at scale. Method: We reflect on three randomised trials designed to evaluate the impact of an early years language programme, prior to the implementation of a large effectiveness trial, delivered in partnership with speech and language professionals. We consider findings within a framework from implementation science. Results: We found that, in contrast to policy-led interventions for reading and mathematics, language interventions are not prioritised in mainstream settings. Aside from this, other obstacles to delivery were the time taken to prepare and to timetable This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Supplemental material, Supplementary_Material for Evaluation of an explicit vocabulary teaching i... more Supplemental material, Supplementary_Material for Evaluation of an explicit vocabulary teaching intervention for children learning English as an additional language in primary school by Chris Dixon, Jenny Thomson and Silke Fricke in Child Language Teaching and Therapy
Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, Nov 1, 2023
Background Speech and language skills are important for social interaction and learning. This stu... more Background Speech and language skills are important for social interaction and learning. This study characterised the communication abilities of verbal individuals with SOX11 syndrome using a standardised parent/carer questionnaire, the Children's Communication Checklist (CCC-2). Method Thirteen parent/carers of verbal individuals (aged 5–19 years) diagnosed with SOX11 syndrome completed the CCC-2. In order to contextualise findings, responses were compared to norms and to data from Noonan syndrome, a relatively well-known genetic diagnosis associated with communication impairment. Results For all individuals, the CCC-2 composite score indicated significant communication difficulties. Language structure (speech, syntax, semantics and coherence), pragmatic language (inappropriate initiation, stereotyped language use of context and non-verbal communication) and autistic features (social relations and interests) scores were lower than typically developing norms. Subscale comparisons revealed relative difference in use of context compared to other pragmatic domains (stereotyped language and inappropriate initiation). Individual scores showed substantial variation, particularly in regard to language structure profile. Differences were more pronounced than for Noonan syndrome, specifically in domains of speech, syntax, non-verbal communication and social relations. Conclusions SOX11 syndrome is associated with communication impairment. It is important to assess communication abilities as part of the management of individuals with SOX11 syndrome and understand individual strengths and difficulties in order to provide targeted support.
Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, May 17, 2021
Childhood acquired brain injury (ABI) is associated with poorer life outcomes. Increasing numbers... more Childhood acquired brain injury (ABI) is associated with poorer life outcomes. Increasing numbers of children and young people are surviving severe brain injury and returning to mainstream schools with multiple impairments. It is widely acknowledged that for these children, their school becomes by default their rehabilitation centre. International studies of this transition and a recent UK government report criticize educators' inconsistent implementation of support strategies, lack of educator training and poor communication between clinicians, educators, child and family. The educators' perspectives of the return-toschool are, however, not well represented in the literature. This study therefore explored the experiences of educators in the UK (N = 10) who had recently facilitated a return-to-school of a child with ABI aged 8-12 (N = 5) using semi-structured interviews analysed by data-driven thematic analysis. The findings highlight common experiences: a continuum of intensive problem-solving with heavy reliance on the Special Educational Needs Coordinator; educators valuing collaboration with clinical specialists in context over general training'; uncertainty over the validity of implementing support strategies from prior teaching experience; uncertainty about how to support the child's emotional needs; and frustration with UK statutory processes for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Recommendations are made for changes to practice and future research. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Sprache-stimme-gehor, Sep 28, 2020
Discussion The present findings concerning phonological acquisition in Turkish-German bilinguals ... more Discussion The present findings concerning phonological acquisition in Turkish-German bilinguals confirm previous pilot studies and could be used as preliminary clinical guidance when diagnosing SSDs in Turkish-German bilingual children.
Child Language Teaching and Therapy, May 20, 2020
Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) possess lower levels of English vo... more Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) possess lower levels of English vocabulary knowledge relative to their non-EAL English-speaking peers. Longitudinal work suggests that this group discrepancy does not decrease markedly over time as a result of regular classroom teaching. Twelve EAL learners with English vocabulary weaknesses took part in a low-intensity, 10week vocabulary intervention. Working one-to-one with speech and language therapy students, children took part in weekly activities designed to promote receptive and productive knowledge of 20 target words within the Tier-2 vocabulary category. When assessed on a bespoke word knowledge assessment, children made statistically significant gains between pretest and posttest in both receptive and productive knowledge of taught words, and maintained this knowledge six months later. Multi-component explicit vocabulary instruction offering opportunities for active engagement and discussion is thus presented as one potentially effective means of promoting the Tier-2 vocabulary knowledge of EAL learners in primary school in England.
Reading and Writing, Oct 8, 2016
Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) show reading comprehension difficu... more Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) show reading comprehension difficulties despite adequate decoding. However, the relationship between early language and reading comprehension in this group is not fully understood. The language and literacy skills of 80 children learning English from diverse language backgrounds and 80 monolingual English-speaking peers with language weaknesses were assessed at school entry (mean age = 4 years, 7 months) and after 2 years of schooling in the UK (mean age = 6 years, 3 months). The EAL group showed weaker language skills and stronger word reading than the monolingual group but no difference in reading comprehension. Individual differences in reading comprehension were predicted by variations in decoding and language comprehension in both groups to a similar degree.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Nov 23, 2012
Background: Oral language skills in the preschool and early school years are critical to educatio... more Background: Oral language skills in the preschool and early school years are critical to educational success and provide the foundations for the later development of reading comprehension. Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, 180 children from 15 UK nursery schools (n = 12 from each setting; M age = 4;0) were randomly allocated to receive a 30-week oral language intervention or to a waiting control group. Children in the intervention group received 30 weeks of oral language intervention, beginning in nursery (preschool), in three group sessions per week, continuing with daily sessions on transition to Reception class (pre-Year 1). The intervention was delivered by nursery staff and teaching assistants trained and supported by the research team. Following screening, children were assessed preintervention, following completion of the intervention and after a 6-month delay. Results: Children in the intervention group showed significantly better performance on measures of oral language and spoken narrative skills than children in the waiting control group immediately after the 30 week intervention and after a 6 month delay. Gains in word-level literacy skills were weaker, though clear improvements were observed on measures of phonological awareness. Importantly, improvements in oral language skills generalized to a standardized measure of reading comprehension at maintenance test. Conclusions: Early intervention for children with oral language difficulties is effective and can successfully support the skills, which underpin reading comprehension.
Reading and Writing, Jan 5, 2022
The study explores whether foundational skills of reading and spelling in preschool (age 5-6) pre... more The study explores whether foundational skills of reading and spelling in preschool (age 5-6) predict literacy skills cross-linguistically in an additional language in Grade 1 (age 6-7). A sample of linguistically diverse preschool children completed tasks of phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge, verbal-short term memory, rapid automatized naming, and lexical knowledge in the language of preschool instruction Luxembourgish. The children were followed-up in Grade 1 where literacy skills were assessed in the language of schooling, i.e., German, after five months of literacy instruction. German was a non-native language for all children. Longitudinal correlations confirm that individual differences in single word/pseudoword reading and spelling in German in Grade 1 can be predicted by all the foundational literacy skills that were assessed in Luxembourgish. Path analyses showed that phonological awareness in Luxembourgish emerged as the strongest unique predictor of Grade 1 literacy skills in German. The second unique preschool predictor of Grade 1 literacy skills was letter-sound knowledge. Results are consistent with the view that literacy development in an additional language builds upon similar building blocks as literacy acquisition in a first language, at least for languages that are typologically close. However, current findings suggest that respective contributions between predictors and literacy skills in children learning to read in an additional language may vary from patterns observed in studies with children acquiring literacy in their first language.
British Council eBooks, Jan 20, 2016
Increasingly around the world children are engaging in Early Childhood Education and Care (aged 0... more Increasingly around the world children are engaging in Early Childhood Education and Care (aged 0-7) before entering primary school. At the same time, there is an increase in the extent to which non English-speaking children are taught English through educational provision. This volume brings these two issues together by offering both evidence-based global reviews and more localised research-oriented reports on current issues in teaching children English through ECEC internationally.
Journal of Research in Reading, Apr 30, 2020
Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are a growing population of learners in... more Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are a growing population of learners in English primary schools. These children begin school with differing levels of English language proficiency and tend to underperform in relation to their non-EAL peers on measures of English oral language and reading. However, little work has examined the developmental trajectories of these skills in EAL learners in England. EAL learners and 33 non-EAL peers in Year 4 (age 8-9 years) were assessed at three time points over 18 months on measures of oral language (vocabulary, grammar and listening comprehension), phonological processing (spoonerisms and rapid automatised naming) and reading skills (single-word decoding and passage reading). At t1, EAL learners scored significantly lower than non-EAL peers in receptive and expressive vocabulary (breadth but not depth), spoonerisms and passage reading accuracy. Contrary to previous research, no significant group differences were found in listening or reading comprehension skills. With the exception of passage reading accuracy, there was no evidence for convergence or divergence between the groups in rate of progress over time. After three years of English-medium classroom instruction, EAL learners continue to underperform relative to their non-EAL peers in breadth of English vocabulary knowledge. This discrepancy in vocabulary knowledge does not appear to narrow as a result of regular classroom instruction in the run up to the final stages of primary school, pinpointing vocabulary as a key target for intervention.
Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Jun 25, 2015
For professionals working with multihome language can present a challenge. This is largely due to... more For professionals working with multihome language can present a challenge. This is largely due to the scarcity of standardised and missing normative data on multilingual language acquisition. A common approach is to translate existing English language vocabulary measures into other languages. However, this approach does not take into account the cultural and linguistic differences between languages. This pilot study explored whether English and home language receptive vocabulary skills can be objectively and reliably screened using a tablet application. Preliminary data on mono-and multilingual vocabulary skills was collected from 139 children aged 6-7 years. A tablet application was designed to E a four choice picture paradigm. Linguistically controlled and pre-recorded target items are presented orally via the tablet in each language and responses are made via the touchscreen and automatically scored. The English version of the test was administered to 67 mono-and 72 multilingual children, while 38 multilingual children also completed the test in their home language. Test criteria measures, including reliability and concurrent validity showed satisfactory results. These findings suggest that the tablet application could be a useful tool for professionals to screen receptive vocabulary skills in mono-and multilingual children. Limitations of the first version of the RVS and future steps are discussed.
Data was collected while Cecilia Zuniga-Montanez and Claudine Bowyer-Crane were based at the Nati... more Data was collected while Cecilia Zuniga-Montanez and Claudine Bowyer-Crane were based at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) 'Making sure that people are in a good place is draining, and nobody does that for me': The pandemic and its ongoing impact on teachers and headteachers Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the way education was provided changed during two academic years. Schools saw an increase in their workload and scope of their responsibilities which impacted staff members physically, mentally and professionally. This study aimed to report how the pandemic and school disruptions impacted teachers and other staff members, and how their experience has been since all restrictions have been lifted. Twenty-three staff members from 21 primary schools participating in the ICICLES project were interviewed with a semi-structured online interview. Overall, results showed that the pandemic was challenging for staff members and that their workload and physical and mental wellbeing were affected. Even though restrictions in England have been lifted since the summer of 2021, schools are still struggling and are still seeing the effect of the pandemic on their staff members' wellbeing. Findings from these interviews suggest that the impact of the pandemic and school disruptions might be more long-term than previously thought. Findings also highlight the need to include staff members in any discussions regarding recovery plans as they were and are still significantly impacted by the pandemic and school disruptions.
Journal of Research in Reading, Apr 5, 2022
Background: There is now substantial evidence that language interventions delivered to small grou... more Background: There is now substantial evidence that language interventions delivered to small groups can be effective for improving language skills and hence strengthening the foundation for formal schooling. However, there are remaining challenges when delivering such interventions in naturalistic environments at scale. Method: We reflect on three randomised trials designed to evaluate the impact of an early years language programme, prior to the implementation of a large effectiveness trial, delivered in partnership with speech and language professionals. We consider findings within a framework from implementation science. Results: We found that, in contrast to policy-led interventions for reading and mathematics, language interventions are not prioritised in mainstream settings. Aside from this, other obstacles to delivery were the time taken to prepare and to timetable This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Supplemental material, Supplementary_Material for Evaluation of an explicit vocabulary teaching i... more Supplemental material, Supplementary_Material for Evaluation of an explicit vocabulary teaching intervention for children learning English as an additional language in primary school by Chris Dixon, Jenny Thomson and Silke Fricke in Child Language Teaching and Therapy
In M. Kersner & J.A. Wright (Eds.), Supporting Young Children with Communication Problems (4 th Edition), 2015
Der Test für Phonologische Bewusstheitsfähigkeiten (TPB) dient der Überprüfung der phonologischen... more Der Test für Phonologische Bewusstheitsfähigkeiten (TPB) dient der Überprüfung der phonologischen Bewusstheitsfähigkeiten bei sprachunauffälligen, aber auch bei Kindern mit überwundenen oder noch bestehenden Sprech- und/oder Sprachauffälligkeiten und Schwierigkeiten beim frühen Lese-Rechtschreib-Erwerb. Die phonologische Bewusstheit (PhB) bezeichnet keine isolierte Fähigkeit, sondern ein komplexes Konstrukt, dessen Entwicklung bereits im Vorschulalter beginnt. Diese Entwicklung der PhB ist sowohl für den Sprech- und Spracherwerb als auch für den Lese-Rechtschreib-Erwerb von großer Bedeutung. Mit dem TPB liegt erstmalig ein detailliertes und standardisiertes Verfahren zur frühzeitigen Überprüfung der phonologischen Bewusstheitsfähigkeiten vor. Er ist geeignet für Kinder im Alter von 4;0 - Ende der 1. Klasse und kann mithilfe des Ergebnisprofils zur individuellen Interventionsplanung und Verlaufsdiagnostik genutzt werden.
"Phonological awareness (PA) defines the ability to analyse and manipulate the phonological struc... more "Phonological awareness (PA) defines the ability to analyse and manipulate the phonological structure of a spoken word. It is a heterogeneous skill that starts developing at preschool age and is important for pronunciation as well as literacy skills. The present project investigated the PA competences of 38 monolingual, normally-developing German preschool children a few months before starting school. The aims of the pilot study
were to advance the development of a reliable and comprehensive PA test battery for German preschool children
and to gain insight into the average PA skills in German-speaking children near school enrolment. In general, both aims were achieved within the scope of the current project and the results are discussed concerning test reliability, average PA
performances and the influence of letter-knowledge on the PA scores."
British Journal of Special Education, 2010
These two books are course readers for the Open University course 'Difficulties in literacy devel... more These two books are course readers for the Open University course 'Difficulties in literacy development' and consist of a collection of articles and chapters that, in the majority of cases, have been published elsewhere before. The main purposes of both volumes are: a) to adopt a cross-disciplinary approach to understanding and approaching literacy difficulties; and b) to draw attention to political, research-based as well as professional issues in an intensely discussed area of education.
Sprachheilpädagogik: Wissenschaft und Praxis, 17. Kongress der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Sprachheilpädagogik (Vol. 2, pp. 81-88), 2007