Effects of parent coaching on Filipino children’s numeracy, language, and literacy skills.

Early childhood interventions that target numeracy, language, and literacy skills can help to mitigate negative educational outcomes among young children from low- to middle-income families in developing countries. The current study evaluates the efficacy of parent coaching programs designed to enrich home numeracy and literacy environments in Cebu City, Philippines. A total of 673 families with 3- to 5-year-old children were randomly assigned to the numeracy, dialogic reading, early literacy skills training, and control groups. Following the 12-week intervention, children in the 578 families that participated in the posttest generally demonstrated a differential pattern of skill gains according to program content. Children in the numeracy group manifested improved basic and complex numeracy skills, and children in the dialogic reading group demonstrated gains in vocabulary knowledge for words in the books that they were exposed to, as well as print and word awareness, to a limited degree. Children in the early literacy skills training group had improved letter name knowledge, phonological awareness, and print and word awareness skills. Evidence of cross-domain transfer from early literacy skills training to some numeracy skills, as well as variations according to socioeconomic status, level of parental involvement, and teacher assignment in the program, were observed in the results. Results are discussed in relation to the specificity of program effects, cross-domain transfe...
Source: Journal of Educational Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research