An intervention to increase conversational turns between parents and young children

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn A. LEECH ◽  
Meredith L. ROWE

Abstract Behavioral and neural evidence indicates that young children who engage in more conversations with their parents have better later language skills such as vocabulary and academic language abilities. Previous studies find that the extent to which parents engage in conversational turn-taking with children varies considerably. How, then, can we promote extended conversations between parents and their children? Instead of asking parents to engage in longer turn-taking episodes, we provided parents with information on conversational content that we hypothesized would lead to increased episodes of longer, more sustained conversational turn-taking. Specifically, we found that boosting the frequency of parent-child talk about abstract, non-present concepts – decontextualized language – led to an increase in dyadic conversational turn-taking during home mealtimes several weeks later.

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 1087-1098 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura J. Hahn ◽  
Nancy C. Brady ◽  
Kandace K. Fleming ◽  
Steven F. Warren

PurposeIn this study, we examine joint engagement (JE) in young children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and its relationship to language abilities and autism spectrum disorder symptomatology at 24 to 36 months (toddler period) and 59 to 68 months (child period).MethodParticipants were 28 children with FXS (24 boys, four girls) and their mothers. Videotaped home observations were conducted during the toddler period and coded for JE. Language abilities were measured at both ages from a developmental assessment, a functional measure, and from a language sample. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (Schopler, Reichler, & Renner, 1988) was completed at both ages.ResultsChildren with FXS spent more time in supported JE than in coordinated JE. Using a weighted JE variable, we found that children with FXS who had higher weighted JE scores also had more advanced expressive language skills at both the toddler and child periods. Weighted JE was negatively related to autism symptomatology in the toddler period.ConclusionThis study provides evidence that children with FXS who use more JE also have more advanced expressive language skills in early development. Therefore, existing early interventions that target JE behaviors may be effective for promoting language, social communication, and social interaction in this population.


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 3397-3412
Author(s):  
Michelle I. Brown ◽  
David Trembath ◽  
Marleen F. Westerveld ◽  
Gail T. Gillon

Purpose This pilot study explored the effectiveness of an early storybook reading (ESR) intervention for parents with babies with hearing loss (HL) for improving (a) parents' book selection skills, (b) parent–child eye contact, and (c) parent–child turn-taking. Advancing research into ESR, this study examined whether the benefits from an ESR intervention reported for babies without HL were also observed in babies with HL. Method Four mother–baby dyads participated in a multiple baseline single-case experimental design across behaviors. Treatment effects for parents' book selection skills, parent–child eye contact, and parent–child turn-taking were examined using visual analysis and Tau-U analysis. Results Statistically significant increases, with large to very large effect sizes, were observed for all 4 participants for parent–child eye contact and parent–child turn-taking. Limited improvements with ceiling effects were observed for parents' book selection skills. Conclusion The findings provide preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of an ESR intervention for babies with HL for promoting parent–child interactions through eye contact and turn-taking.


Author(s):  
Yue Ma ◽  
Laura Jonsson ◽  
Tianli Feng ◽  
Tyler Weisberg ◽  
Teresa Shao ◽  
...  

The home language environment is critical to early language development and subsequent skills. However, few studies have quantitatively measured the home language environment in low-income, developing settings. This study explores variations in the home language environment and child language skills among households in poor rural villages in northwestern China. Audio recordings were collected for 38 children aged 20–28 months and analyzed using Language Environment Analysis (LENA) software; language skills were measured using the MacArthur–Bates Mandarin Communicative Developmental Inventories expressive vocabulary scale. The results revealed large variability in both child language skills and home language environment measures (adult words, conversational turns, and child vocalizations) with 5- to 6-fold differences between the highest and lowest scores. Despite variation, however, the average number of adult words and conversational turns were lower than found among urban Chinese children. Correlation analyses did not identify significant correlations between demographic characteristics and the home language environment. However, the results do indicate significant correlations between the home language environment and child language skills, with conversational turns showing the strongest correlation. The results point to a need for further research on language engagement and ways to increase parent–child interactions to improve early language development among young children in rural China.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026540752098236
Author(s):  
Darcey K. deSouza

This research study explores how children respond to solicitations for updates about their (recent) experiences. Instances of parents soliciting updates from their children were collected from over 30 hours of video-recorded co-present family interactions from 20 different American and Canadian families with at least one child between the ages of 3 and 6. Previous research has documented that caregivers of very young children treat them as being able to disclose about events they have experienced (Kidwell, 2011). In building upon the literature on family communication and parent-child interactions as well as the literature on epistemics, this paper explores the concept of “talking about your day” in everyday co-present family interactions, showing three ways in which parents solicit updates from their children: through report solicitations, tracking inquiries, and asking the child to update someone else. Data are in American and Canadian English.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (7) ◽  
pp. 1167-1174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janette E. Herbers ◽  
J. J. Cutuli ◽  
Amy R. Monn ◽  
Angela J. Narayan ◽  
Ann S. Masten

Author(s):  
Jacqueline A. Towson ◽  
Yusuf Akemoglu ◽  
Laci Watkins ◽  
Songtian Zeng

Purpose Shared interactive book reading (SIBR) is an evidence-based practice for young children who are typically developing and those with developmental disabilities or considered at risk for developmental delays. The purpose of this review was to provide a comprehensive examination of the evidence of using SIBR to facilitate growth in language skills for young children with developmental disabilities and/or delays. Specifically, authors examined the descriptive characteristics, study rigor, and effect sizes for language and literacy outcomes. Method We extracted data from studies meeting specified criteria ( n = 23) published in peer-reviewed journals on a wide range of variables, including participant characteristics, setting, training/coaching, defined independent and dependent variables, study rigor, and overall outcomes. Descriptive and study rigor data were aggregated using descriptive statistics. Effect-size estimates were calculated for all child outcomes related to language. Results Descriptive data were variable across studies. Three single-case experimental design and three group design studies met design standards without reservations. Single-case experimental design studies overall showed positive effects on child language and communication. Within group design studies, expressive language outcomes showed the largest effect sizes. Conclusion A review of SIBR studies indicates this as a viable intervention to positively impact the language skills of young children with developmental disabilities and/or delays. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16674355


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Snow

The lessons I have learned over the last many years seem always to come in pairs – a lesson about the findings that brings with it a lesson about life as a researcher...Lesson 1. Even as a doctoral student, I believed that the sorts of social interactions young children had with adults supported language acquisition. In 1971, when I completed my dissertation, that was a minority view, and one ridiculed by many. I was, unfortunately, deflected from a full-on commitment to research on the relationship between social environment and language development for many years by the general atmosphere of disdain for such claims. In the intervening years, of course, evidence to support the claim has accumulated, and now it is generally acknowledged that a large part of the variance among children in language skills can be explained by their language environments. This consensus might have been achieved earlier had I and others been braver about pursuing it.[Download the PDF and read more...]


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-444
Author(s):  
Thiago Silva e Silva ◽  
Áustria Rodrigues Brito

Resumo: Com ênfase no desenvolvimento das capacidades de linguagem requeridas no momento de produção de um texto, o presente artigo pretende analisar, quantitativa e qualitativamente, os avanços nas produções textuais no gênero história em quadrinhos (HQs), de doze alunos da 8ª série, turma vespertina, de uma escola municipal de Barra do Corda – MA, as quais foram produzidas pelos referidos discentes durante a pesquisa realizada, entre agosto e dezembro de 2016, no âmbito do Programa de Mestrado Profissional em Letras (PROFLETRAS), ofertado pela Universidade Federal do Sul e Sudeste do Pará (UNIFESSPA). Tal pesquisa, embasada nos estudos teóricos de Bakhtin (2011), Gonçalves (2010), Mendonça (2010), Dolz, Noverraz e Schneuwly (2004), entre outros, aplicou uma Sequência Didática (SD) elaborada a partir das dificuldades dos alunos partícipes da pesquisa identificadas na produção inicial (T1), onde ao longo da SD, foram propostas, após a execução dos módulos que a compunham, mais duas reescritas da T1. As análises aqui presentes indicam que, após as intervenções, houve avanço substancial na produção textual dos alunos pesquisados no tocante às capacidades de ação, discursivas e linguístico-discursivas.Palavras-chave: Capacidades de linguagem. História em quadrinhos. Produção textual. Abstract: With the emphasis on the development of the language abilities required at the time of producing a text, this article intends to analyze, quantitatively and qualitatively, the advances in the production of texts in the genre comics (HQs), of twelve students of the 8th grade, which were produced by the mentioned students during the survey conducted between August and December 2016, within the scope of the professional master 's program in Literature (PROFLETRAS), offered by Federal University of Southern and Southeastern Pará (UNIFESSPA). This research, which was based on the theoretical studies of Bakhtin (2011), Gonçalves (2010), Mendonça (2010), Dolz, Noverraz and Schneuwly (2004), among others, applied a Didactic Sequence students who participated in the research identified in the initial production (T1), where they were proposed, after the execution of the modules that composed it, two more rescripts of T1. The present analyzes indicate that, after the interventions, there was a substantial advance in the textual production of the students researched in terms of the capacities of action, discursive and linguistic-discursive.Keywords: Language skills. Comic books. Text production.


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