ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the effectiveness of e-book activity for vocabulary acquisition and story comprehension among kindergarteners at risk for learning disabilities (LD) as opposed to typically developing (TD) children. Prior to the advent of computer technology, joint adult-child reading of books represented the child's initial literacy activity. Nonetheless, young children are becoming increasingly exposed to reading via computer-based electronic storybooks, tools having the potential to support children's emergent literacy. To obtain a sufficiently uniform sample, the children's verbal and non verbal cognitive levels were tested by means of two subtests from the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC), a standardised intelligence test that can be administered to subjects aged 2.5 and older. Vocabulary improvement was analysed by comparing the pre- and post-test scores of the treatment groups. Traditional word-learning strategies have focused on dictionary use, an activity that requires multiple skills such as utilisation of guidewords and decoding, done in relative isolation from texts.
