Poster #163 - Enriching language environment of low-SES households: A randomized controlled trial of a home visiting curriculum

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Prevention and Interventions

Integrative Statement

The 30 Million Words Gap, representing socioeconomic disparities in both quantity and quality of early language environments, has ignited widespread attention to early language inputs in relation to children’s language development and academic outcomes (Hart & Risley, 1995; Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2017). Early language input disparities have been implicated in creating cumulative disadvantages over time, putting children in poverty at greater risk for academic failure and lifelong adverse outcomes. Children in early toddlerhood show steady, significant progress on their cognitive and language development. Language inputs from and social interactions with caregivers allow children at this developmental stage to practice their emerging cognitive functioning and language skills (Zimmerman et al., 2009). Educating low-SES caregivers about early childhood language development provides a strong foundation for fostering caregiver enrichment of the early environments. Promoting the quantity of language inputs and the quality of social interactions caregivers provide for their young children is essential for behavioral interventions addressing early language disparities. Using a randomized controlled trial, this on-going study evaluated the efficacy of the six-month Home Visiting intervention by testing whether it significantly increased: (1) caregiver knowledge of early childhood cognitive and language development, and (2) home language environment in the context of low-SES households.
Method: Low-SES caregivers of 13-16-month-old toddlers were randomized into a language intervention (n=58) or nutrition control (n= 64) home-visiting curriculum (see CONSORT flow diagram in Figure 1). Each curriculum consisted of twelve one-on-one educational sessions with caregivers, facilitated by a trained home-visitor. Caregivers in the language curriculum learned scientific concepts about young children’s language development, developed and practiced skills, and set and monitored goals to enrich children's early language environments (see Table 1 for an overview). In both baseline and post-intervention assessments, caregiver knowledge was measured by the Scale of Parent/Provider Expectations and Knowledge; a mixed-method approach was adopted to assess (a) the quantity of linguistic inputs available for the child using Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) technology and (b) the quality of caregiver interactions with the child through observations. Caregiver education levels and receptive language skills were examined as covariates.
Results: Preliminary findings from analyses of covariance revealed that compared with their control counterparts after the intervention, the intervention caregivers were more knowledgeable about early childhood cognitive and language development, F(1,118) = 23.19, p < .001, η2p = .16, engaged in more conversational turn-takings with their child, F(1,110) = 5.31, p = .02, η2p = .05, and utilized more praise, explanations, and open-ended questions, F(1,117) = 9.39, p = .003, η2p = .07, but less criticism, physical control, and intrusiveness when interacting with their child, F(1,117) = 5.50, p = .02, η2p = .05.
Conclusion: Preliminary findings provided evidence supporting the immediate efficacy of the Home Visiting intervention in enhancing caregiver knowledge as well as the quantity and quality of home language environments in the context of low-SES households, controlling for caregiver education level and receptive language skills. With complete data collection, the implications of the findings for existing and future research would be discussed.

Authors

• Christy Leung, University of Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Marc Hernandez, NORC
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kristin Leffel, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dana Suskind, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author