Measuring Effectiveness of a Picture Reading Skills Development Program and its Impact on Kindergarten Children’s Perceptual Speed

The research objective was to develop a program for developing kindergarten children’s picture reading skills, and to identify the relationship between picture reading skills and perceptual speed. The one-group pretest-posttest experimental design was used, and the study program was piloted on the research sample at Agial Private Language KG, Al-Sharkia Governorate (n = 25, girls and boys, 6-7 years old). The tools used were the Picture Reading Skills Pictorial Scale (developed by the researcher), the Perceptual Speed Scale (developed by Hanem Abulkhir, 2011) and the KG Picture Reading Skills Development Program (prepared by the researcher). The results indicate statistically significant differences along the dimensions of the picture reading skills scale between the mean scores of the research sample before and after the application of the picture reading skills program, in favor of post-application. The results also show a significant positive correlation between the children post-application scores on the picture reading skills scale and the perceptual speed scale. The researcher recommends using the program to develop kindergarten children’s picture reading skills.