Interprofessional delivery of Read It Again - KindergartenQ!: Classroom, educator, and child outcomes of an Australian pilot study.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) data for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) indicates a concerning increase in the proportion of children who are at risk or developmentally vulnerable in the domains of communication and general knowledge, and language and cognitive skills. This study investigated the effectiveness of speech-language pathologist and educator collaboration to build educator capacity to promote oral language and emergent literacy skills in preschool children. METHOD: A quasi-experimental, pre-test post-test design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of interprofessional delivery of Read It Again - KindergartenQ! on (a) children's oral language and emergent literacy outcomes, (b) educators' oral language and emergent literacy instructional practices, and (c) quality of the classroom environment. RESULT: Children demonstrated improved print knowledge and narrative skills. One of the two educators demonstrated a significant increase in their use of oral language and emergent literacy promoting strategies in their day-to-day interactions with children. No significant changes were observed in the classroom environment. CONCLUSION: Interprofessional collaboration with a coaching component is an effective method of improving children's emergent literacy skills and educator instructional practices.