Designing and Implementing an Early Literacy Screening Protocol: Suggestions for the Speech-Language Pathologist Laura M. Justice Marcia A. Invernizzi Joanne D. Meier University of Virginia, Charlottesville 84 LANGUAGE, SPEECH, AND HEARING SERVICES IN SCHOOLS • Vol. 33 • 84–101 • April 2002 © American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 0161–1461/02/3302–0084 ABSTRACT: The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2001) recently asserted that speech-language pathologists can and should play an important role in promoting literacy for young children with communicative impairments. Early literacy screening provides a valuable tool for speech-language pathologists to use for the timely detection of difficulties in literacy achievement. In addition, results of early literacy screening can be used to guide intervention and instruction. This article provides a rationale for incorporating early literacy screening into service delivery. It also makes recommendations for determining which children and what areas of literacy should be targeted in screening activities. Suggestions for interpreting findings are also provided, as are strategies for using screening to guide early literacy intervention. KEY WORDS: early literacy, assessment, speech-language pathology in schools, role of the speech-language pathologist LSH SS E arly literacy knowledge serves as the founda- tion for children’s subsequent attainment of conventional literacy abilities, including reading and writing. Generally speaking, these foundational skills are acquired by children within the period transcend- ing birth to approximately 5 years of age; this time frame generally corresponds to the period preceding formal literacy instruction. For increasing numbers of children, formal literacy instruction begins in the kindergarten classroom, paving the way for more intensive instructional activities in first grade. Early literacy knowledge is strongly and reciprocally influenced by children’s oral language proficiency (Boudreau & Hedberg, 1999; Chaney, 1992; Dickinson & Tabors, 1991; Lonigan et al., 1999; Maclean, Bryant, & Bradley, 1987). Preschool children who have difficulties acquiring oral language proficiency, such as children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children with phonological disorders, are at increased risk for delayed attainment of requisite early literacy skills (Bird, Bishop, & Freeman, 1995; Boudreau & Hedberg, 1999; Clark-Klein, 1991; Magnusson & Naucler, 1993). As a result, these children may enter kindergarten and/or first grade lacking adequate early literacy knowledge. This places these children at risk in their ability to meet the rigors of formal reading and writing instruction. This sequence of events, in which children have difficulties achieving early literacy fundamentals and are thus subsequently unprepared for formal literacy instruction, may contribute to the relatively high incidence of reading problems for children with speech and/or language impair- ments (for discussion, see Blachman, 1991; Catts, 1991, 1993; Catts & Kamhi, 1986). Such circumstances argue the need for increased involvement by speech-language pathologists in promoting early literacy achievement for the children with whom they work. This perspective was recently presented in a position statement of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), titled “The Roles and Responsibilities of Speech-Language Pathologists With Respect to Reading and Writing in Children and Adolescents” (ASHA, 2001). A brief overview of several key points made in this important reference document is provided here. Readers are encour- aged to consult the full source for a more complete description of the roles and responsibilities of speech- language pathologists with respect to literacy. That speech-language pathologists can and should play an active role in literacy promotion for young children is