On a measure of letter knowledge, the trained at-risk children gained more between pre-test and post-test in comparison to both the untrained at-risk children and the not-at-risk children.
On the speed measure of productive letter knowledge, the standard deviation in the experimental group was larger than in the control group.
Our study is also consistent with many studies that have shown improvement on measures of language production (letter and category fluency) following atypical antipsychotic administration (Buchanan et al, 1994; Galletly et al, 1997; Hagger et al, 1993; Hoff et al, 1996; Lee et al, 1994; Potkin et al, 2001).
However, it should be noted that Elbro and Petersen measured letter naming instead of letter sounds (receptive letter knowledge), a somewhat different and more difficult skill.
The first limitation to mention is the skewness of the accuracy measures of phoneme awareness and letter knowledge at the first follow-up in first grade (time 3) and the accuracy measure of productive letter knowledge at the second follow-up (time 4).
Measures of phoneme awareness and letter knowledge were included, but several measures could not be used as extreme ceiling effects were to be expected.
It should be noted that all accuracy measures of phoneme awareness and letter knowledge were skewed to the left and several measures approached ceiling.
The vigilance test of letter cancellation measured sustaining attention.
It also examines the relationship between preschool absences and students' scores on measures of kindergarten readiness in math, letter recognition, and social-emotional development, as well as assessments of second-grade reading fluency.
Two measures of verbal fluency, namely the Initial Letter Fluency (ILF) and the Excluded Letter Fluency (ELF) tests, are administered.
