<i>The Reading House</i>: A Children's Book for Emergent Literacy Screening During Well-Child Visits.

Abstract

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends literacy promotion and developmental assessment during well-child visits. Emergent literacy skills are well defined, and the use of early screening has the potential to identify children at risk for reading difficulties and guide intervention before kindergarten. <i>The Reading House</i> (TRH) is a children's book designed to screen emergent literacy skills. These are assessed by sharing the book with the child and using a 9-item, scripted scoring form. Get Ready to Read! (GRTR) is a validated measure shown to predict reading outcomes. TRH and GRTR were administered in random order to 278 children (mean: 43.1 ± 5.6 months; 125 boys, 153 girls) during well-child visits at 7 primary care sites. Parent, child, and provider impressions of TRH were also assessed. Analyses included Rasch methods, Spearman-ρ correlations, and logistic regression, including covariates age, sex, and clinic type. Psychometric properties were strong, including item difficulty and reliability. Internal consistency was good for new measures (<i>r_Co-</i> _α = 0.68). The mean TRH score was 4.2 (±2.9; range: 0-14), and mean GRTR was 11.1 (±4.4; range: 1-25). TRH scores were positively correlated with GRTR scores (<i>r</i> _s = 0.66; high), female sex, private practice, and child age (<i>P</i> < .001). The relationship remained significant controlling for these covariates (<i>P</i> < .05). The mean TRH administration time was 5:25 minutes (±0:55; range: 3:34-8:32). Parent, child, and provider impressions of TRH were favorable. TRH is a feasible, valid, and enjoyable means by which emergent literacy skills in 3- and 4-year-old children can be directly assessed during primary care.