[Evaluation of a preschool program to promote phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondence--long-term effects in the prevention of dyslexia at the end of the 3rd and 4th grades].

OBJECTIVE

The present study evaluates the long-term effects of a preschool training in phonological awareness and letter- sound correspondence.

METHOD: The children from the experimental and the control group of the original study (Blaser et al., 2007) were retested by means of reading and writing tests at the end of the 3rd and 4th grades.

RESULTS

Results reveal no significant difference between the trained group and the control group with regard to their average reading and writing performance. Effects of the training are seen in the reduction of the number of children with spelling problems in the trained group. The training had no detectable positive effects on the percentage of children with reading problems.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, results are interpreted as a confirmation of the effectiveness of the training in the primary prevention of spelling problems. In spite of these results a small percentage of children remains that develops reading and spelling problems despite having participated in the preventive intervention. Future research should focus upon these children.