Chapel Hill, NC - The University of North Carolina's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) has recently completed a review of research that underscores the importance of recognizing and responding to critical early warning signs of learning difficulty in young children.

The paper, titled "Recognition and Response: An Early Intervening System for Young Children At Risk for Learning Disabilities," discusses the challenges for early educators and parents in addressing the learning difficulties of pre-school age children. It also advocates for a new systemic approach that can help early educators and parents ensure early school success for all children, including those at risk for learning difficulties. To download the paper as a PDF, click here. To download an executive summary, click here.

The report recommendations are aligned with a well-established and still growing movement for high quality early care and education across the country. The paper explains that this new model, which includes such components as universal screening and progress monitoring, facilitates a seamless transition from pre-K to kindergarten. and emphasizes the importance of decision-making based on carefully targeted student data. The critical roles of early care providers, early educators  and parents are also discussed, as is the school and community-wide partnership among all care providers to address the needs of all pre-K children, including those who are at the greatest risk for learning difficulties or disabilities.

The FPG research is based on the same principles as the K-12 Response to Intervention (RTI) model that many public schools are adoping and suggests that early and targeted interventions in the Pre-K years, based on a child's individual learning characteristics, can help at-risk youngsters at the onset of their K-12 educational career.

"The Recognition and Response system is based on the premise that parents and early childhood teachers can learn to recognize critical early warning signs that a young child may not be learning in a expected manner and to respond in ways that positively effect a child's early school success," said the paper's lead author, Dr. Mary Ruth Coleman.

Dr. Virginia Buysse, a co-author, said, "In this proposed system there is limited reliance on formal evaluation, identification and labeling. Instead Recognition and Response emphasizes an approach to acting on a child's early learning difficulties that includes assessing the overall quality of early learning experiences for all children and making program modifications, tailoring teaching strategies and providing appropriate supports for individual children who struggle to learn."

"The Recognition and Response model expands traditional views of school readiness by looking at a 'full portrait' of a child across developmental domains and by relying on data to formulate responses to learning and behavioral challenges," adds Dr. Sheldon H. Horowitz, Director of Professional Services for the National Center for Learning Disabilities. "This early approach to recognizing and addressing potential risks for learning failure in young children is consistent with best practice in early childhood education and with evidence that supports seamless and effective transition from Pre-K to the early school grades."

The FPG research project was supported by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. The research paper was written in collaboration with the National Center for Learning Disabilities and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. To download a copy of this paper as a PDF, click here.