Primary Prevention of Reading and Writing Difficulties After Kindergarten

Training in early literacy skills has been advocated to prevent dyslexia. The current longitudinal study investigates the efficacy of implementing dyslexia training methods into early literacy lessons in N = 142 children. While children from the intervention group did not differ from the control group regarding their preschool competencies, they did show better writing skills at the end of first grade. An inspection of hierarchical regression model changes suggests that rapid automatized naming and early letter knowledge best predict literacy, regardless of the specific type of schooling. Our findings imply that dyslexia therapy-based education is effective in primary school while preschool competencies maintain their predictive value.