Do Children Learn Letter Writing From Their Names? Examining The Relations Between Head Start Children'S Writing Skills And Name-Specific Letter Knowledge

This study assessed 266 young children's (mean age = 55.41 months, SD = 4.70 month) writing skills (name writing and letter writing), and decoding skills (letter knowledge, letter-word identification, and phonological awareness), and investigated whether children learn letter writing from their own names, and whether children's gender is related to their early writing. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses show that among children who wrote recognizable letters in both name writing and letter writing tasks, children wrote a significantly higher percentage of dictated name letters than non-name letters. Letter knowledge was related to both name writing and letter writing skills. There was evidence that once children had developed basic writing skills, earlier gender differences in writing skills were no longer significant. This study provides support for the classroom instructions that integrate children's own names and decoding knowledge into writing activities.