Nap effects on preschool children’s learning of letter‐sound mappings

This study explored whether a daytime nap aids children's acquisition of letter‐sound knowledge, which is a fundamental component for learning to read. Thirty‐two preschool children in Sydney, Australia (M (age) = 4 years;3 months) were taught letter‐sound mappings in two sessions: one followed by a nap and the other by a wakeful period. Learning was assessed by explicit letter‐sound mappings (“Which sound does this letter make?”) and knowledge generalization tasks (“Here's Tav and Cav, which one is /kav/?”). Results from the knowledge generalization task showed better performance after a nap than after wake. However, no nap benefit was found for explicit letter‐sound knowledge. This study provides initial evidence that naps could be beneficial for preschool children's learning of letter‐sound mappings.