Kindergarten prevention of dyslexia: does training in phonological awareness work for everybody?

Abstract

This study examined the effects of training in phonological awareness on kindergarten children. Comparisons of children at risk (i.e., children with initially low levels of metalinguistic ability) with initially average and advanced children revealed that training gains were similar for all of these groups. Furthermore, training had comparable long-term effects on reading and spelling in Grades 1 and 2 for each group. In fact, the trained children at risk showed better reading and spelling performance than a randomly selected control group. Although considerable individual differences in training effectiveness were found Within the group of at-risk children, there was clear evidence that the training program substantially reduced the risk of becoming dyslexic in school.