Early Literacy Skill Growth in Spanish-Speaking Children With and At Risk for Disabilities in Early Childhood

For young Spanish–English dual language learners (SE-DLLs), early literacy skills, including phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge in Spanish as well as English, are crucial to their reading success. However, there is a lack of research about how SE-DLLs develop early literacy skills, and how their rates of performance can inform evidence-based intervention. This article examined to what degree SE-DLLs with disabilities or at risk for later reading difficulties on early literacy skills demonstrated growth on English and Spanish measures of early literacy when compared with their typically developing peers. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze growth for 325 SE-DLLs on four Individual Growth and Development Indicators that assessed phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge in English and Spanish. Results indicated that at-risk and typically developing children showed significant slopes for all measures and that at-risk children grew faster than typically developing children on Spanish alphabet knowledge measures.