Relations between reading skill level in fifth grade and functional language skills at toddler age

Abstract

This retrospective study, undertaken in Norway, examines how reading skills level in 851 fifth graders are related to how the children used their language skills in play and everyday activities as toddlers. Data were collected with the Norwegian National Reading Test and through structured observations by staff in Early Childhood Education institutions using the TRAS (Early Registration of Language Skills) instrument. Children with low reading skills had lower language skills than the group with high reading skills for both TRAS total and the different TRAS sections; effect sizes varied from small to moderate. The group with moderate reading skills had better results for TRAS total than the group with low reading skills but weaker results than the group with high reading skills. In the TRAS sections, whether the moderate skills group differed from the other groups varied. The results imply the need for early intervention to start at toddler age.