Description

The Intervention Program for Preschool Children with Suspected Dyslexic Behavior was designed to provide early support for children who show signs of difficulties that may be related to later problems in acquiring reading and writing skills.

The program is organized around four main areas of intervention: psychomotor skills, psycho-laterality, phonological awareness, and pre-writing. Each area includes 20 exercises arranged in progressively increasing levels of difficulty, allowing the intervention to develop in a systematic and graded manner.

Purpose

The main purpose of the program is the early retraining and support of preschool children for whom there are indications of dyslexic behavior.

The intervention focuses on strengthening specific abilities that are considered relevant to school readiness and to the later acquisition of written language skills.

Main Areas of Intervention

Psychomotor Skills

The psychomotor component focuses on the development and organization of motor abilities that can support broader school readiness and functional performance.

Psycho-Laterality

The psycho-laterality component concerns skills related to laterality and the organization of the body in relation to space, as incorporated within the specific intervention program.

Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness constitutes one of the central areas of the program and concerns the child’s ability to process and recognize the sound-related characteristics of language.

Pre-Writing Skills

The pre-writing component includes activities intended to prepare the child for the later development of handwriting and other skills associated with written expression.

These four domains form the core structure of the intervention program.

Methodology and Implementation

According to the source material, the study examining the implementation of the program was conducted in two phases.

During the first phase, a sample of 785 children was selected and administered the Early Dyslexia Detection Test.

During the second phase, 46 preschool children were selected to participate in the intervention program.

Evaluation of the Intervention

The effectiveness of the program was examined through reassessment following the intervention.

According to the results reported in the source file, the children in the experimental group showed improvement across all four intervention areas compared with the control group.

This evaluation provides an indication of the potential contribution of a structured early intervention program to strengthening abilities associated with later literacy development.

Standardization Sample

The program is reported to have been standardized on a sample of 23 preschool children from schools located in urban, semi-urban, and rural areas of the Ioannina region.

This geographical variation allowed the program to be applied to children from different educational and social settings within the specific sample.

Uses and Applications

The program may be used in preschool educational settings and structured early-intervention programs, particularly when children present signs of difficulties related to skills that precede formal reading and writing instruction.

Its implementation may contribute to the systematic development of psychomotor, laterality-related, phonological, and pre-writing abilities before the beginning of formal literacy education.

References

Zakopoulou, V. (2004). Early Dyslexia Detection Test. Athens: Ellinika Grammata.

Karvounis, M., & Stavrou, D. (2007). Phonological Test for the Detection of Dyslexic Behavior in Children Aged 5–6 Years (FTADSY 5–6). Athens: Anthropos.

Stavrou, L. (1968). Dépistage précoce d’une tendance à la dyslexie et rééducation en deuxième année du jardin d’enfants et en première année primaire. Bruxelles: Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Program authors: A. Stavrou and D. Stavrou.