Kindergarten Ready: What Really Matters in Child Development

Dr. Gene Ouellette
  • 5.0 (35)
  • EDUCATION
Kindergarten Ready: What Really Matters in Child Development

A podcast about child development, birth-to-five, where we explore what really matters, and what it really means to be kindergarten ready. It's a podcast devoted to understanding and nurturing child development, as guided by developmental science, theory, and research. Hosted by Dr. Gene Ouellette, Director of the Language, Literacy, Learning Lab at Mount Allison University, Professor of (developmental and educational) psychology, Associate Editor of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, researcher, author, former Speech Language Pathologist....... (and father, husband, soccer coach, and lover of weinerdogs too!). www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com email: languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

  1. 09/25/2020

    Brain Words and the Science of Reading

    On this episode, I cheat a little and share an interview in which I was the guest- I guess it's role reversal time on Kindergarten Ready: What Really Matters! It's all about the science of reading and just what that tells us about teaching kids to read. More about Brain Words: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/raising-readers-writers-and-spellers/201902/brain-words-solution-america-s-reading-problem https://www.mta.ca/Community/News/2019/April_2019/Brain_Words_%E2%80%94_the_psychology_of_learning_to_read/ Full interview can be found here: https://pacificeducationpulse.simplecast.com/episodes/4-ep04-rethinking-reading-instruction-using-brain-words Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    22 min

  2. 09/09/2020

    Shared Reading & Storybooks: What's Up with That?

    On this episode of Kindergarten Ready: What Really Matters (#11!) we shift gears once again and do a deep-dive into research methods for studying just what shared (storybook) reading does to a child’s developing oral language and emergent literacy. _________________________________________ References this week all come from the lab of Monique Sénéchal at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Sénéchal, M., & LeFevre, J. (2002). Parental involvement in the development of children’s reading skill: A 5-year longitudinal study. Child Development, 73, 445-460. Sénéchal, M., LeFevre, J.-A., Thomas, E., & Daley, K. (1998). Differential effects of home literacy experiences on the development of oral and written language. Reading Research Quarterly, 32, 96-116. Sénéchal, M. (1997). The differential effect of storybook reading on preschooler’s expressive and receptive vocabulary acquisition. Journal of Child Language, 24, 123-138. Sénéchal, M., & Cornell, E.H. (1993). Vocabulary acquisition through shared reading experiences. Reading Research Quarterly, 28, 360-374. ___________________ As always, please feel free to reach out with comments, suggestions, and maybe sound clips of your kids even! Can’t promise I’ll always reply promptly, but I’ll try.... www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com https://www.facebook.com/kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    23 min

  3. 08/19/2020

    Parent tips and more...straight from kindergarten teachers!

    On this episode of Kindergarten Ready: What Really Matters (#10!) we continue with last episode’s focus on being topical and timely- it is back to school time after all! So this week I hand the mic over to two experienced, dedicated kindergarten teachers who share their thoughts on kindergarten readiness and provide many thoughtful tips for parents.   _________________________________________ As always, please feel free to reach out with comments, suggestions, and maybe sound clips of your kids even! www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com https://www.facebook.com/kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    18 min

  4. 08/05/2020

    Kindergarten Readiness in the Traditional Sense...

    On this episode of Kindergarten Ready: What Really Matters we switch our focus once again to the title of the podcast- this time kindergarten readiness in the traditional sense. We’ll see what some top ranked websites have to say for themselves, and hear from a real life kindergarten teacher too…yes a real life one…       _________________________________________ Richard Gentry’s post about our show: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/raising-readers-writers-and-spellers/202007/science-early-literacy-learning-really-matters Websites reviewed… https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/school-life/grade-by-grade/preparing-kindergarten.html https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/signs-symptoms/academic-readiness/skills-kids-need-going-into-kindergarten https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/childrens-health/in-depth/kindergarten-readiness/art-20048432   As always, please feel free to reach out with comments, suggestions, and maybe sound clips of your kids even! www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com https://www.facebook.com/kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    25 min

  5. 07/22/2020

    Let's talk...attachment!

    On this episode of Kindergarten Ready: What Really Matters we switch to the social-emotional domain of development and take on a topic that has relevance not only throughout the 0-5 age range, but for our entire life – this week on Kindergarten Ready, it’s all about attachment!     _________________________________________ As always, please feel free to reach out with comments, suggestions, and maybe even sound clips of your kids! Who knows, they could star in future episodes... www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com https://www.facebook.com/kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    25 min

  6. 07/08/2020

    Early invented spelling and the developing reading brain

    On this episode of Kindergarten Ready: What Really Matters we have our first ever listener requested topic: invented spelling and kid writing! Yay! A topic near and dear to my heart- and brain. We’ll talk about how early kid writing is not only a great gateway to learning to read, it actually directly tells us about the child’s developing brain!   References & Links: Richard Gentry Phases of Spelling: http://bpsassets.weebly.com/uploads/9/9/3/2/9932784/gentry.pdf Some of my related research: Ouellette, G., Martin-Chang, S., & Rossi, M. (2018). Learning from our mistakes: Improvements in spelling lead to gains in reading speed. Scientific Studies of Reading, 21, 350-357.   Ouellette, G., & Sénéchal, M. (2017). Invented spelling in Kindergarten as a predictor of reading and spelling in Grade 1: A new pathway to literacy, or just the same road, less known? Developmental Psychology, 53, 77-88.Ouellette, G., Sénéchal, M., & Haley, A. (2013). Guiding children's invented spellings: A gateway into literacy learning. Journal of Experimental Education, 81, 261-279.Sénéchal, M., Ouellette, G., Pagan, S., & Lever, R. (2012).  The role of invented spelling on learning to read in low-phoneme-awareness kindergartners: A randomized-control-trial  study. Reading and Writing, 25, 917-934._________________________________________ As always, please feel free to reach out with comments, suggestions, and maybe sound clips of your kids even! www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com https://www.facebook.com/kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    26 min

  7. 06/24/2020

    Let's talk about babies, speech perception, and babbling.

    On this episode of Kindergarten Ready: What Really Matters, we are all about....babies! This week, we shift the focus age wise, and talk about babies and their amazing speech perception abilities and early babbling. And yes I geek out a little on the science and research, but trust me, this is super cool stuff. Seriously. Seriously cool. References on request. As always, please feel free to reach out with comments, suggestions, and maybe sound clips of your kids even! www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com https://www.facebook.com/kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    30 min

  8. 06/10/2020

    Readiness and Emergent Literacy

    On this episode of Kindergarten Ready: What Really Matters we try to better match the content to the podcast title....and talk about what readiness really means... and emergent literacy! Special thanks to the stars of this week’s episode, Sloan (3.5 years old), Maddy, & Arwyn (both 4 years old)! References for those interested in the research literature: Ouellette, G., & Sénéchal, M. (2017). Invented spelling in Kindergarten as a predictor of reading and spelling in Grade 1: A new pathway to literacy, or just the same road, less known? Developmental Psychology, 53, 77-88. Ouellette, G., Sénéchal, M., & Haley, A. (2013). Guiding children's invented spellings: A gateway into literacy learning. Journal of Experimental Education, 81, 261-279. Ouellette, G., & Sénéchal, M. (2008). Pathways to literacy: A study of invented spelling and its role in learning to read.  Child Development, 79, 799-813. Reutzel, R. (2015). Early literacy research: Findings primary-grade teachers will want to know. The Reading Teacher, 69, 14-24. Welsch, J.G., Sullivan, A., & Justice, L. (2003). That’s my letter!: What preschoolers’ name writing representations tell us about emergent literacy knowledge. Journal of Literacy Research, 35, 757-776.   www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com https://www.facebook.com/kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com     Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    26 min

  9. 05/27/2020

    Stress, Anxiety, and Uncertainty in COVID times

    In this episode, let's talk about stress, AUGH... More specifically, anxiety, uncertainty, and structure for children given stressful situations such as, gee I don't know, how about a global pandemic...Did I say AUGH? A tad more serious this time around- promise I'll come up with some light-hearted stories more related to being kindergarten ready next time- but it seemed only appropriate that we broach this subject now. WHO HANDOUT: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/helping-children-cope-with-stress-print.pdf?sfvrsn=f3a063ff_2 Zero-to-3 : https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/3265-answering-your-young-child-s-questions-about-coronavirus CORRECTION: at the 22:20 mark I refer to Maude as being 4 years old- my bad- she is 5! www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com www.facebook.com/kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    32 min

  10. 05/12/2020

    Vocabulary Part II: Techniques to capitalize on daily language learning opportunities

    In this episode, I boast of my progress made in overcoming some demons that reside in my version of Garage Band (still a ways to go, but getting there), and we continue the discussion of vocabulary. This week the focus is on specific ways that we can talk to kids and turn everyday activities into opportunities for language learning. www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com www.facebook.com/kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters/ email: languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    32 min

  11. 05/01/2020

    Language development that really matters: Vocabulary!

    In this first full-length episode, let's talk about language development, vocabulary, and everyday opportunities to promote learning. I could have called this episode 'how GarageBand ruined my week'...after days of struggling to figure out why dragging edited segments within a track was causing prior segments to change, and battling to deal with variations in recording quality, I concede defeat...but vow to improve the quality for the next episode- actually already figured out a big part of the problem! Maybe don't use your best headphones to listen to this one. Just sayin. And a few references if you are interested... Bleses, D., Makransky, G., Dale, P.S., Højen. A., & Ari, B.A. (2016). Early productive vocabulary predicts academic achievement 10 years later. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37, 1461-1476. Hart,B., & Risley, T.R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the lives of children. Baltimore, MD: Brookes. Hindman, A.H., Wasik, B.A., Snell, E.K. (2016). Closing the 30 million word gap: Next steps in designing research to inform practice. Child Development Perspectives, 10, 134-139. Jones A., Atkinson, J., Marshall, C., Botting, N., St Clair, M.C., & Morgan, G. (2020). Expressive vocabulary predicts nonverbal executive function: A 2‐year longitudinal study of deaf and hearing children. Child Development, 91, e400-e414. Ouellette, G., & Shaw, E. (2015). Oral vocabulary and reading comprehension: An intricate affair. L'Année Psychologique/Topics in Cognitive Psychology, 114, 623-645. Ouellette, G., & Haley, A. (2013). One complicated extended family: The influence of alphabetic knowledge and vocabulary on phonemic awareness. Journal of Research in Reading, 36, 29-41. Ouellette, G., & Beers, A. (2010). A not-so-simple view of reading: How oral vocabulary and visual-word recognition complicate the story. Reading and Writing, 23, 189-208. Ouellette, G. (2006). What’s meaning got to do with it: The role of vocabulary in word reading and reading comprehension. The Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 554-566. www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com . email: languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    24 min

  12. 04/25/2020

    What this show is all about!

    Dr. Gene Ouellette introduces the podcast, describing how the focus on developmental science can help us understand what really matters in child development in the first five years, and just what it means to be kindergarten ready. www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com email: languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    4 min
  • 12 Episodes

5
out of 5
35 Ratings

About

A podcast about child development, birth-to-five, where we explore what really matters, and what it really means to be kindergarten ready. It's a podcast devoted to understanding and nurturing child development, as guided by developmental science, theory, and research. Hosted by Dr. Gene Ouellette, Director of the Language, Literacy, Learning Lab at Mount Allison University, Professor of (developmental and educational) psychology, Associate Editor of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, researcher, author, former Speech Language Pathologist....... (and father, husband, soccer coach, and lover of weinerdogs too!). www.kindergartenreadywhatreallymatters.com email: languageliteracylearninglab@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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