This is the entire playlist of 7 videos included in this series. Stephanie Downey Toledo presents this module on the need for increasing language skills for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. A variety of conditions exacerbate the difficulties children from low SES backgrounds have upon entering school. Stephanie provides some strategies for alleviating these difficulties so that all children can achieve academic success. Stephanie Downey Toledo defines the achievement gap: the disparity in educational quality certain students experience compared to others. She goes on to explain why the achievement gap matters, including the impact the achievement gap has on individual students, communities and society.

Find resources used throughout this playlist here:

Reading Development Playlist

Related Research: Developing Reading and Writing in Second Language Learners

Social vs. Academic Language (Sociolinguistics: Module 01)

Socioeconomic, Linguistic and Cultural Bias in Testing and Labeling Tasks (PDE: Module 12)

Find each of the modules from this playlist here:

The Achievement Gap (ILS: Module 01)

Importance of Parent Training in Early Literacy (ILS: Module 02) 

Strategies to Support Emergent Literacy (ILS: Module 03)

Increasing Literacy in Adolescents (ILS: Module 04) 

Optimizing the Learning Environment (ILS: Module 05) 

Contextualize Language for Learning (ILS: Module 06) 

Increase Executive Functioning (ILS: Module 07) 

Please find links to research mentioned in this video series here:

Aram, D. M. and Nation, J. E. (1980). Preschool language disorders and subsequent language and academic difficulties. Journal of Communication Disorders, 13(2), 150-170.

Bloom, L., & Lahey, M. (1978). Language development and language disorders.

Cain, K., Oakhill, J. and Bryant, P. (2004). Children’s Reading Comprehension Ability: Concurrent Prediction by Working Memory, Verbal Ability, and Component Skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(1), 31-42.

Chall, J.S., and Jacobs, V. A. (2003). Poor children’s fourth grade slump. American Educator, 27(1). 14-17.

Dodd, B. & Carr, A. (2003). Young children’s letter-sound knowledge. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in School, 34, 128-137.

Farah, M. J., Noble, K. G., & Hurt, H. (2005). Poverty, privilege, and brain development: empirical findings and ethical implications. Neuroethics in the 21st Century.

Francis, D. J., Shaywitz, S. E., Stuebing, K. K., Shaywitz, B. A., and Fletcher, J. M. (1991). Developmental lag versus deficit models of reading disability: A longitudinal, individual growth curves analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88(1), 3-17.

Gibbons, P. (2002). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: Teaching second language learners in the mainstream classroom (pp. 110-119). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Justice, L. M., Chow, S. M., Capellini, C., Flanigan, K., & Colton, S. (2003). Emergent Literacy Intervention for Vulnerable Preschoolers: Relative Effects of Two Approaches. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 12(3), 320-332.

Justice, L. M., & Ezell, H. K. (2000). Enhancing children’s print and word awareness through home-based parent intervention. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 9(3), 257-269.

Justice, L. M., Skibbe, L., & Ezell, H. (2006). Using print referencing to promote written language awareness. Contextualized language intervention: scaffolding pre K-12 literacy achievement, 389-428.

Montgomery, J. (2007). Vocabulary interventions for RTI: Tiers 1, 2, 3. InAmerican Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Boston: MA.

Nancollis, A., Lawrie, B., and Dodd, B. (2005). Phonological awareness intervention and the acquisition of literacy skills in children form deprived social backgrounds. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 36(4), 325-335.

Neuman, S. B., & Celano, D. (2006). The knowledge gap: Implications of leveling the playing field for low‐income and middle‐income children. Reading Research Quarterly, 41(2), 176-201.

Nippold, M. A., Mansfield, T.C., and Billow, J.L. (2007). Peer conflict explanations in children, adolescents, and adults: Examining the development of complex syntax. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 16(2), 179-188.

Sharif, I., Rieber, S., Ozuah, P. O., & Reiber, S. (2002). Exposure to Reach Out and Read and vocabulary outcomes in inner city preschoolers. Journal of the National Medical Association, 94(3), 171.

Williams, K. (2012). Effect of Intervention WIth the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction on Access and Goal Attainment. Remedial and Special Education, 33(5), 135-153.

Windsor, J., & Kohnert, K. (2004). The Search for Common GroundPart I. Lexical Performance by Linguistically Diverse Learners. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47(4), 877-890.

Wolfe, C. D., & Bell, M. A. (2004). Working memory and inhibitory control in early childhood: Contributions from physiology, temperament, and language.Developmental psychobiology, 44(1), 68-83.