Poster #167 - Not just talk: The impact of universal parent education programing on child language development

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Prevention and Interventions

Integrative Statement

Background: The quantity of child-directed speech from adults correlates with and predicts children’s later vocabulary and language development (Adams et al., 2017; Rowe, 2012; Walker et al., 1994). Recent studies point to the contribution of quality of early talk with children for their later success, coming from back-and-forth interactions/conversations (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2015; Romeo et al., 2018). Parents vary in their ability to offer rich language support due to social and contextual factors, so supporting parents to understand their role in children’s language development is key (Hoff, 2006; Rowe, 2008). Recent longitudinal analyses of a universal community-based program were associated with growth in parent behaviors of increasing infant-directed speech and the number of conversations with the child, that help facilitate early language development (author blind review). However, it is unknown whether a universal program may have direct impacts on children’s language development.
The purpose of this study was to test whether a community program resulting in increased adult words, conversational turns, and parent knowledge of child development also resulted in increased child language development. The program pairs wearable technology-based assessment of parent-child language interaction, and a multimedia theory-based training program to increase parent talk and engagement with their children. These practices may subsequently positively impact child language development.

Methods: Multiple cohorts of participants completed the program at public libraries (n=105). A longitudinal repeated measures design using multi-level modeling analysis examined the growth in parent talk (total number of words and conversational turns), child language development as reported by the parents, and parent knowledge of child development. These data were collected by use of the LENA® Language Environment Analysis digital language recorder during a 16-hour recording of talk directed to the focus child, and parent knowledge of child development was measured with the SPEAK (Suskind, Leung, Zimowski, & Hernandez (2017). During the thirteen week program, language growth of the children, as reported by parents, was measured four times with the LENA Developmental Snapshot (LDS; (Gilkerson & Richards, 2008).
Results: Alongside growth in parent linguistic behaviors in the previous analysis, (author blind review) children experienced greater than expected development of language compared to standardized norms (β=1.61, t=3.03, p<.01). No differences in language growth for children in families who reported they received federal aid were found. However, corroborating studies linking parent knowledge of child development, income, and language ability, a significant positive relationship between participants’ income level and their baseline knowledge of child development (r = .27, p<.01) and the child’s initial LDS score was found (r = .26, p<.05). Finally, there was a significant positive relationship between adult-child conversational turns and the child’s vocalization scores (r = .26, p<.05), along with positive associations between the LDS and child’s vocalizations (r = .28, p<, 05).

Conclusion: Community-based programs are a promising way to help parents learn to provide the type of enriching language environments that are associated with increased language development of young children. More research is needed for a strong causal link, but these initial results offer a solid foundation for future work.

Authors

• Constance Beecher, Iowa State University
  Presenting Author

• Craig Van Pay, Iowa State University
  Non-Presenting Author