2-165 - Really Closing the Word Gap: Lessons from Experts on the Ground

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

By the time they are three years old, children raised in poverty hear 30 million fewer words than their socioeconomically advantaged peers. This word gap predicts later school readiness outcomes and sets the stage for achievement gaps that can follow the child through life. How should developmental scientists, clinicians, and policy leaders partner to address this societal challenge? In this roundtable, we bring together four experts currently at the forefront of translational efforts to narrow the word gap. The panelists lead ground-breaking initiatives designed to promote parental language use, including innovative approaches to providing video and/or quantitative feedback to parents. They work across multiple communities and modes of implementation, including pediatric care and city-wide urban intervention. Panelists bring both a theoretical perspective about language learning and "on the ground" experience with families living in poverty. They are uniquely positioned to share insights about current challenges and opportunities in actually narrowing the word gap. We will discuss themes related to intervention delivery, measurement, shared resources, and new points of connection among basic and translational programs of research. The time is right to identify next steps that take maximum advantage of lessons learned so far; this roundtable will engage the large community of language researchers, educators, clinicians and public policy experts in a broad discussion about the next frontier of evidence-based efforts that can inform practice on this critical issue.

Sub Unit

• Language, Communication

Moderator

• Lynn K Perry, University of Miami

Panelists

• Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Temple University

• Dana Suskind, University of Chicago

• Adriana Weisleder, New York University School of Medicine

• Courtney Hawkins, Providence Talks