Background

Researchers agree upon the value of rich home literacy environments for children’s language development. Although to a lesser extent, math development is also influenced by home literacy activities such as shared storybook reading. Much less is known about specific child characteristics that might interfere with parents’ attempts to interest the child in book reading.

In this longitudinal study it is tested whether:

1. junior kindergartner’s executive processes (i.e., regulatory skills) moderate the relation between the home literacy environment and emergent literacy and mathematical skills at age four and conventional reading and mathematics in Grade 1, and

2. kindergartner’s regulatory skills have an enduring impact on reading and math development from preschool to first grade.

If so, early intervention programmes should not exclusively rectify deficiencies in the home environment but should also take children’s regulatory skills into account.

• attention disorder
• behavioral problems
• cognitive development
• emergent literacy
• language development
• learning problems
• reading comprehension