Implementing Dialogic Reading Intervention Through Community-Based Participatory Research: A Tutorial

Purpose: This work describes community-based participatory research (CBPR) to support language and literacy development with Pre-K and kindergarten African American boys.Method: The aim and goals of the project were designed using the CBPR model. Interventionists were trained with researcher-designed videos. Interventionist fidelity to training was assessed. Pre- and posttests of child language were completed after the 12 weeks of dialogic reading intervention.Results: The CBPR team learned the dialogic reading protocol from the video trainings and provided the lessons with fidelity. Children's postintervention scores of sound-matching and nonword repetition increased significantly. Postintervention changes in lexical diversity and productive syntax were age graded, such that younger children's scores increased over time whereas older children's scores decreased.Conclusions: CBPR is a viable method for speech-language pathologists seeking to develop language and literacy lessons for low resource communities. Self-paced videos can effectively train interventionists to provide dialogic reading lessons with fidelity. Young children's sound-matching and nonword repetition skills can improve significantly with 12 weeks of dialogic reading lessons.