Roma children not attending preschool education: supporting early literacy skills with music and creative drama based program

This study aimed to examine the effects of the Music and Creative Drama-Based Early Literacy Education Program on the early literacy skills of Roma children aged 4–5 years. A total of twenty-two Roma children, residing in a specific neighbourhood, were included in the study. Data were collected using the Child-Family Demographic Information Form, the Gazi Early Childhood Development Assessment Tool, and the Early Literacy Skills Assessment Tool. Following the pre-test assessments, the Music and Creative Drama-Based Early Literacy Education Program, developed by the researcher, was implemented with the participating Roma children over a period of 10 weeks, with three sessions per week. As a result, the programme was found to positively influence the children’s early literacy skills, including phonological awareness, print awareness, pre-writing skills, alphabet and letter knowledge, verbal language, and vocabulary development.