Profiles of emergent literacy skills among preschool children who are at risk for academic difficulties

The purpose of this study was to explore patterns of within-group variability in the emergent literacy skills of preschoolers who are at risk for academic difficulties We used the person-centered approach of cluster analysis to identify profiles of emergent literacy skills taking into account both oral language and code-related skills Participants were 492 preschoolers (aged 42-60 months) enrolled in needs-based programs In the fall of the academic year children were administered eight measures of emergent literacy four oral language measures (1 e expressive and receptive grammar expressive and receptive vocabulary) and four code-related measures (ie print concepts alphabet knowledge name writing and rhyme) Controlling for age hierarchical-agglomerative and K-means cluster analysis procedures were employed Five psychometrically sound profiles emerged highest emergent literacy (prevalence = 14%) three profiles with average oral language and differential code-related abilities (16% 24% 23%) and lowest oral language with broad code-related weaknesses (23%) Profiles were then compared on midyear teacher ratings of emergent literacy as well as end-of-kindergarten literacy performance results provided convergent evidence of predictive validity This study highlights the considerable heterogeneity of emergent literacy abilities within an at-risk group The resulting profiles have theoretical and practical relevance when examining both concurrent relationships between oral language and code-related skills as well as longitudinal relationships between early patterns of performance and later reading achievement (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved