“¡Uno, dos, tres!”: Latino Mothers’ and Fathers’ Math Talk With Their Toddlers

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

Over the first years of life, children develop knowledge about numbers, shapes, and spatial relations (Ginsburg et al., 2008). This early mathematical knowledge has important implications for later academic success (Duncan et al., 2007). However, there is large variability in children’s early mathematical knowledge, with children from low-income backgrounds, on average, scoring lower on math achievement tests than their wealthier peers (Jordan et al., 2006). An important source of variation is the quality of the home environment, including learning materials and interactions with caregivers (Levine et al., 2019; Skwarchuk et al., 2014). In particular, parents promote their children’s mathematical knowledge through their “math talk” (e.g., “3 bears”) during everyday interactions. Most research on parental math talk has been conducted with White middle-class samples yet little is known about how low-income Latino mothers and fathers use “math talk” with their toddlers despite Latino children being the largest ethnic group and many of them being at risk for school difficulties (Chernoff et al., 2007).

Using a sample of low-income monolingual-Spanish and Spanish-English bilingual Latino families participating in a parenting intervention, we examine the quantity (i.e., frequency) and quality (i.e., types) of math talk that mothers and fathers use with their children at 18 and 24 months. We ask: (1) What is the quantity and quality of math talk that Latino mothers and fathers use with their toddlers at 18 and 24 months? (2) Are mothers’ and fathers’ math talk and informal home learning activities at 18 and 24 months associated with children’s math talk at 24 months? Using a composite of mothers’ and fathers’ math talk, we hypothesize that children who have parents who use different types of math talk and more math talk overall and who provide more learning activities will exhibit more diverse and more math talk.

Our sample includes Latino toddlers (N = 62) and their parents who are participating in an ongoing intervention. Bilingual research assistants coded for parents’ and children’s math talk during semi-structured parent-child interactions. Each 30-second interval of the interaction was coded for the presence of 13 types of math talk (e.g. cardinality, counting). The coding scheme for the current study was adapted from a coding scheme used with English-speaking parents to ensure it was appropriate to use with a Spanish-speaking population. For example, talk about cardinality was divided into two categories (cardinality about 1 object and cardinality about ≥ 2 objects) given that the word for the number “one” in Spanish can also be used as a singular determiner. Parent-report of informal learning activities was assessed at 18 and 24 months. Intervention condition and child gender will be included as control variables.

We will run descriptive statistics and regression models (see Table 1 for preliminary descriptive statistics). Due to COVID-19, coding of video data is being done remotely and will be completed by December 2020. Analyses will be conducted shortly after.

This study can inform researchers’ efforts to support math talk among low-income Latino parents which may help reduce gaps in early mathematical skills.

Authors

• Angelica Alonso, University of Maryland - College Park
  Presenting Author

• Yu Chen, New York University School of Medicine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Natasha J Cabrera, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kelly Sue Mix, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie M Reich, University of California - Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author