Building Collaborative Research Relationships

Abstract

A colleague of mine in private practice, Karen T. Kimberlin, M.S., CCC-SLP approached me about conducting a pilot study to gather data on appropriate screening tools and screening procedures appropriate for children in kindergarten. The purpose of our study was to gather data on the feasibility of identifying children at risk for reading disorders in a grade level screening during the kindergarten year. The collaborative project included two public school districts, which varied from each other in the characteristics of their student populations. A compilation of screening tools was used that probed: oral language skills, phonological awareness skills, rapid naming, alphabetic knowledge, and encoding.