Enhancing Parent-Child Book Reading in a Disadvantaged Community

Abstract

A parent–child dialogic reading program was implemented across four preschools, involving 62 caregivers/parents in a low socioeconomic status, disadvantaged community where English was not the first language in 54 per cent of the homes. This socioculturally sensitive program aimed to enhance children's language and emergent literacy development, and increase parental involvement in their preschoolers' education. Over the six months of the program, the amount of parent–child reading more than doubled, from an average of 38 minutes of parent-child reading per week, to 89 minutes of parent–child reading per week. Year One teachers in the following year reported positively on the children's literacy readiness, compared to that of previous intakes. The program is described in the paper.