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Emergent literacy refers to the many literacy-rich activities children participate in prior to formal reading and writing instruction from birth to about 5 years of age. Specifically, emergent literacy has been defined as “the reading and writing behaviors of young children before they become readers and writers in the conventional sense” (Justice, 2006, p. 3). Examples of emergent literacy activities include engaging in shared storybook reading, pretending to write or draw, incorporating literacy themes into play, and engaging in oral wordplay such as rhyming. Shared storybook reading is arguably the most common emergent literacy activity for many children. Parents read to children who are very young before they can verbally participate. Parents often engage in scaffolding or supportive behaviors during emergent literacy activities. Through scaffolding, parents adapt the experience to match the child’s growing abilities, thus supporting...
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References and Readings
Justice, L. M. (Ed.). (2006). Clinical approaches to emergent literacy intervention. San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing.
Price, L. H., & Ruscher, K. Y. (2006). Fostering phonological awareness using shared book reading and an embedded explicit approach. In A. van Kleeck (Ed.), Sharing books and stories to promote language and literacy (pp. 15–76). San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing.
Temple, J. D., & Snow, C. E. (2003). Learning words from books. In A. van Kleeck, S. Stahl & E. Bauer (Eds.), On Reading books to children: Parents and teachers, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
van Kleeck, A. (Ed.). (2006). Sharing books and stories to promote language and literacy. San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing.
van Kleeck, A., Stahl, S. A., & Bauer, E. B. (Eds.). (2003). On reading books to children: Parents and teachers. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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Vogler-Elias, D. (2013). Emergent Literacy. In: Volkmar, F.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_492
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_492
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