Table of Contents

I. Cognitive and Linguistic Building Blocks of Early Literacy Development

1. A Window of Opportunity We Must Open to All: The Case for Preschool With High-Quality Support for Language and Literacy, David K. Dickinson, Allyssa McCabe, and Marilyn J. Essex

2. The Knowledge Gap: Implications for Early Education, Susan B. Neuman

3. Vocabulary Development and Instruction: A Prerequisite for School Learning, Andrew Biemiller

4. Literacy Development: Insights from Research on Skilled Reading, Jane Ashby and Keith Rayner

5. Neurobiological Investigations of Skilled and Impaired Reading, Kenneth R. Pugh, Rebecca Sandak, Stephen J. Frost, Dina Moore, and W. Einar Mencl

II. Phonemic Awareness and Letter Knowledge

6. Conceptualizing Phonological Processing Skills in Prereaders, Christopher J. Lonigan

7. The Development of Phonological Sensitivity, Stephen R. Burgess

8. Phonemic Awareness and Reading: Beyond the Growth of Initial Reading Accuracy, Beth M. Phillips and Joseph K. Torgesen

9. The Roots of Learning to Read and Write: Acquisition of Letters and Phonemic Awareness, Linnea C. Ehri and Theresa Roberts

III. Families and Relationships: Socioemotional and Linguistic Supports

10. The Influence of Parenting on Emerging Literacy Skills, Susan H. Landry and Karen E. Smith

11. Teacher-Child Relationships in Early Literacy, Robert C. Pianta

12. Environmental Supports for Language Acquisition, Erika Hoff

13. The Misunderstood Giant: On the Predictive Role of Early Vocabulary to Future Reading, Monique Sénéchal, Gene Ouellette, and Donna Rodney

IV. Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

14. Effective Interventions for English Language Learners (Spanish-English) at Risk for Reading Difficulties, Sharon Vaughn, Sylvia Linan-Thompson, Sharolyn Pollard-Durodola, Patricia G. Mathes, and Elsa Cárdenas Hagan

15. Recent Research on the Language and Literacy Skills of African American Students in the Early Years, Holly K. Craig and Julie A. Washington

16. Cultural Diversity in Early Literacy: Findings in Dutch Studies, Paul P. M. Leseman and Cathy van Tuijl

17. Considering Culture in Research-Based Interventions to Support Early Literacy, Stuart McNaughton

V. Supporting Literacy in Preschool Classrooms

18. Vygotskian Perspectives on Teaching and Learning Early Literacy, Elena Bodrova and Deborah J. Leong

19. Preschool Classroom Environments and the Quantity and Quality of Children's Literacy and Language Behaviors, Dale C. Farran, Canan Aydogan, Shin Ji Kang, and Mark W. Lipsey

20. The Relationships between Sociodramatic Play and Literacy Development, Lesley Mandel Morrow and Judith A. Schickedanz

21. Encouraging Young Children's Language Interactions with Stories, Margaret G. McKeown and Isabel L. Beck

22. Early Literacy Policy and Pedagogy, Kathleen Roskos and Carol Vukelich

VI. Programmatic Interventions During the Preschool Years

23. Reading Ahead: Effective Interventions for Young Children's Early Literacy Development, Pia Rebello Britto, Allison S. Fuligni, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn

24. A Pediatric Approach to Early Literacy, Robert Needlman, Perri Klass, and Barry Zuckerman

25. Emergent Literacy of Low-Income Children in Head Start: Relationships with Child and Family Characteristics, Program Factors, and Classroom Quality, Nicholas Zill and Gary Resnick

VII. Toward Effective Primary Grade Instruction

26. The Transition to School, Frederick J. Morrison, Carol McDonald Connor, and Heather J. Bachman

27. Perspectives on the Difficulty of Beginning Reading Texts, Elfrieda H. Hiebert and Heidi Anne E. Mesmer

28. The Impact of Early School Experiences on Initial Reading, Connie Juel

29. Policy Decisions in Early Literacy Assessment, Terry Salinger

30. Early Education Interventions: Principles of Effective and Sustained Benefits from Targeted Early Education Programs, Sharon Landesman Ramey and Craig T. Ramey