Supporting Kindergarten Readiness Using the

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Meet Your Presenter

Barbara L. Ekelman, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist and learning specialist in private practice, adjunct associate professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences and clinical associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University.

Today’s Discussion

1. Why screen?
2. Importance of screening during COVID-19
3. Impact of COVID-19 on education
4. The Well Screening can help…
   ✓ Identify individual learning profiles
   ✓ Monitor and track progress
   ✓ Next step planning
5. Guiding Tour of the Website
6. Educational and Clinical Relevance

Why Screen?

• The United States Census Bureau (2020) reported that approximately four million children enter kindergarten in the United States each year.
• Many children are not ready for kindergarten across the socioeconomic spectrum.
• 1 out of 4 children from moderate- or high-income families and 1 out of 2 children from lower-income families are not ready for kindergarten (Williams, 2019).

Why Screen? (cont.)

• Children are exposed to different levels of literacy and come from diverse socio-economic, cultural, and educational backgrounds.
• 8% of entering kindergartners have significant speech and language disorders that negatively impact academic growth (Norbury et al., 2016; Tomblin et al., 1997).
• Others have estimated that up to 16% of school aged children will have difficulty learning to read (Moats, 2020; Shaywitz, 2003).

Why Screen? (cont.)

• Children who get off to a poor start in learning rarely catch up (Adlof, 2020; Torgesen & Burgess, 1998).
• Children who succeed early-on receive the most positive reinforcement leading to a positive self-image, motivation to work hard, and success in school (Ramey & Ramey, 2006).

Importance of Screening During COVID-19: Impact on Kindergarteners

• Many children have been home and not in preschool
• Limited group exposure (turn taking, attention, cooperative play, listening/responding in group activities)
• Limited peer exposure (social communication, sharing, reciprocating, reading facial cues)
• Limited teacher exposure (speaking to adult, following class routines, class rules)
• Limited direct teaching exposure (early literacy, language, speech, math)

Importance of Screening During COVID-19: Impact on Entering 1st Graders

• Many children have been home learning remotely
• Some have had hybrid teaching

Impact of COVID-19 on Education

Remote Learning interferes with:

• Delivering information using a multimodality approach (visual, tactile, motor, auditory, etc.)
• Introducing new material in a context-rich, associative environment
• Assessing and scaffolding on a group and individual level

The Well Screening Can Help

• Gives in-depth personalized results that pinpoint the child’s strengths and weaknesses in areas critical for learning.
• Guides instruction for targeted areas that need strengthening.

How the Well Screening can help

The Well Screening can be used to:
✓ Establish a baseline measure for each child
✓ Help teachers and in-house specialists differentiate their teaching to meet the needs of each learner ✓ Monitor progress throughout the school year ✓ Develop next step planning based on the student’s performance ✓ Screen remotely if necessary

Identify Individual Profiles

✓ Receptive Language: Understanding and processing language when listening and reading
✓ Expressive Language: Retrieving and formulating language when speaking and writing
✓ Social Communication: Using verbal and nonverbal communication in various social contexts ✓ Early Literacy: Learning letter names and corresponding sounds, rhyming, and sound play ✓ Reading: Blending sounds into words (decoding) with fluency and comprehension

Identify Individual Profiles (cont.)

✓ Attention: Maintaining focus and regulating behavior to learn and store information
✓ Math Calculation: Counting, grouping objects, and calculating simple math facts and operations
✓ Speech Sound Production: Producing speech sounds appropriate for age and dialect
✓ Motor Skills: Performing gross, fine, and visual motor movements appropriate for age

Monitor and Track Progress

Norms available for: ✓ Kindergarten (Fall, Winter, Spring)
✓ Entering First Grade Students (K-Spring Norms)
✓ Pre-Kindergarten (Spring)

Next Step Planning

Next Steps
✓ Information
✓ Activities
✓ Games

Educational and Clinical Relevance

• Because kindergarten students are “moving targets,” a screener should be administered throughout the school year (fall, winter, and spring).
• On occasion, a child who presents as a typical learner at the beginning of the school year may not progress accordingly, revealing deficits in phonological awareness and/or retrieval skills.

Start Screening

The Well Screening® Starter Kit has everything you need to start screening!

• Examiner’s Manual ebook
• 25 Screening Codes (+1 practice code)

Link to Well Screening

Get Your Certificate

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References

• Adlof, S.M. (2020). Promoting reading achievement in children with developmental language disorders: What can we learn from research?
• Ekelman, B.L. & Lewis, B.A. (2019). Speech and Language Disorders. In M.L. Batshaw, N.J. Roizen, L. Pellegrino (Eds.), Children with Disabilities 8th Edition.
• Moats, L. C. (2020). Speech to print: Language essentials for teachers (3rd ed.).
• Norbury, C. F., Gooch, D., Wray, C., Baird, G., Charman, T., & Simonoff, E. (2016). The impact of nonverbal ability on prevalence and clinical presentation of language disorder.
• Ramey, S. L., & Ramey, C. T. (2006). Early educational interventions: Principles of effective and sustained benefits from targeted early education programs.