A MEASURE OF EMERGENT LITERACY FOR STUDENTS WITH SEVERE DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

This study examined the underlying structure of the Nonverbal Literacy Assessment (NVLA), an instrument designed to measure emergent literacy for K fourth-grade students with severe developmental disabilities. The NVLA was conceptualized as having six constructs that reflected emergent literacy skills: (a) phonemic awareness, (b) phonics, (c) comprehension, (d) vocabulary, (e) listening comprehension, and (f) text awareness. Confirmatory factor analysis using data from 207 student administrations was used to examine the six-factor model and two alternative models. Results suggested that all three models tit the data, but the high corrections coefficients among the constructs suggested that a one-factor model of emergent literacy was the best-fitting model. Implications and limitations are discussed. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.