The education word gap emerges by 18 months: findings from an Australian prospective study

Abstract Background: There is evidence that parents from more socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds engage in fewer verbal interactions with their child than more advantaged parents. This leads to the so-called, ‘30 million-word gap’. We used improved technology to investigate the number of words children hear in their first year of life. Methods: Mothers were recruited into a five-year prospective cohort study and categorized into either high or low maternal education groups. Data was derived from the first two waves of the study, when the children were six and twelve months old. At both waves, children were involved in day-long audio recordings using the Language Environment Analysis software that provided automatic counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Descriptive results are presented by maternal education groups. Results: There was large variation within each maternal education group, with the number of adult words spoken to the child ranging from 2,958 to 39,583 at six months and 4,389 to 45,849 at twelve months. There were no meaningful differences between adult words, child vocalizations or conversational turns across maternal education groups at either wave of data collection. Conclusions: These results show that a word gap related to maternal education is not apparent up to twelve months of age. The large variability among both maternal education groups suggests that universal interventions that encourage all parents to talk more to their child may be more appropriate than interventions targeted towards disadvantaged families during the first year of life.

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How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life?

10.21203/rs.2.14550/v4 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mary E Brushe ◽

John W. Lynch ◽

Sheena Reilly ◽

Edward Melhuish ◽

Sally A. Brinkman

Keyword(s):

Maternal Education ◽

First Year ◽

Verbal Interactions ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Large Variability ◽

Education Group ◽

Word Gap ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Education Groups ◽

Conversational Turns

Abstract Background: There is evidence that parents from more socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds engage in fewer verbal interactions with their child than more advantaged parents. This leads to the so-called, ‘30 million-word gap’. Methods: We used improved technology to investigate the number of words children hear in their first year of life. Mothers were recruited into a five-year prospective cohort study and categorized into either high or low maternal education groups. Data was derived from the first two waves of the study, when the children were six and twelve months old. At both waves, children were involved in day-long audio recordings using the Language Environment Analysis software that provided automatic counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Descriptive results are presented by maternal education groups. Results: There was large variation within each maternal education group, with the number of adult words spoken to the child ranging from 2,958 to 39,583 at six months and 4,389 to 45,849 at twelve months. There were no meaningful differences between adult words, child vocalizations or conversational turns across maternal education groups at either wave of data collection. Conclusions: These results show that a word gap related to maternal education is not apparent up to twelve months of age. The large variability among both maternal education groups suggests that universal interventions that encourage all parents to talk more to their child may be more appropriate than interventions targeted towards disadvantaged families during the first year of life.

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How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life?

10.21203/rs.2.14550/v3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mary E Brushe ◽

John W. Lynch ◽

Sheena Reilly ◽

Edward Melhuish ◽

Sally A. Brinkman

Keyword(s):

Maternal Education ◽

First Year ◽

Verbal Interactions ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Large Variability ◽

Education Group ◽

Word Gap ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Education Groups ◽

Conversational Turns

Abstract Background: There is evidence that parents from more socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds engage in fewer verbal interactions with their child than more advantaged parents. This leads to the so-called, ‘30 million-word gap’. We used improved technology to investigate the number of words children hear in their first year of life. Methods: Mothers were recruited into a five-year prospective cohort study and categorized into either high or low maternal education groups. Data was derived from the first two waves of the study, when the children were six and twelve months old. At both waves, children were involved in day-long audio recordings using the Language Environment Analysis software that provided automatic counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Descriptive results are presented by maternal education groups. Results: There was large variation within each maternal education group, with the number of adult words spoken to the child ranging from 2,958 to 39,583 at six months and 4,389 to 45,849 at twelve months. There were no meaningful differences between adult words, child vocalizations or conversational turns across maternal education groups at either wave of data collection. Conclusions: These results show that a word gap related to maternal education is not apparent up to twelve months of age. The large variability among both maternal education groups suggests that universal interventions that encourage all parents to talk more to their child may be more appropriate than interventions targeted towards disadvantaged families during the first year of life.

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How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life?

10.21203/rs.2.14550/v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Mary E Brushe ◽

John W. Lynch ◽

Sheena Reilly ◽

Edward Melhuish ◽

Sally A. Brinkman

Keyword(s):

Maternal Education ◽

First Year ◽

Verbal Interactions ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Large Variability ◽

Education Group ◽

Word Gap ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Education Groups ◽

Conversational Turns

Abstract Background: There is evidence that parents from more socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds engage in fewer verbal interactions with their child than more advantaged parents. This leads to the so-called, ‘30 million-word gap’. We used improved technology to investigate the number of words children hear in their first year of life. Methods: Mothers were recruited into a five-year prospective cohort study and categorized into either high or low maternal education groups. Data was derived from the first two waves of the study, when the children were six and twelve months old. At both waves, children were involved in day-long audio recordings using the Language Environment Analysis software that provided automatic counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Descriptive results are presented by maternal education groups. Results: There was large variation within each maternal education group, with the number of adult words spoken to the child ranging from 2,958 to 39,583 at six months and 4,389 to 45,849 at twelve months. There were no meaningful differences between adult words, child vocalizations or conversational turns across maternal education groups at either wave of data collection. Conclusions: These results show that a word gap related to maternal education is not apparent up to twelve months of age. The large variability among both maternal education groups suggests that universal interventions that encourage all parents to talk more to their child may be more appropriate than interventions targeted towards disadvantaged families during the first year of life.

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409The Word Gap: At What Age Does it Emerge? Results from a Prospective Cohort Study

International Journal of Epidemiology ◽

10.1093/ije/dyab168.101 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 50 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

Mary Brushe ◽

John Lynch ◽

Sheena Reilly ◽

Edward Melhuish ◽

Sally Brinkman

Keyword(s):

Maternal Education ◽

Literacy Education ◽

Socioeconomic Differences ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Socioeconomic Groups ◽

Average Change ◽

Education And Employment ◽

Language Environment ◽

Word Gap ◽

Education Groups

Abstract Background Language is a critical development accomplishment of early childhood, enabling later literacy, education and employment. Previous studies have highlighted socioeconomic inequalities in the amount parents speak to their child, with researchers estimating by age four parents from professional backgrounds spoke 30 million more words to their children, than parents who were on welfare. Methods This study utilises innovative speech recognition technology called Language Environment Analysis (LENA), which counts the number of words children hear and speak over a day. LENA data is collected once every six months from 6 – 48 months of age, across two cohorts of children who are stratified by two levels of maternal education to examine the effects across socioeconomic groups. Results Results from the first three waves of data collection demonstrate that differences between education groups in the number of adult words spoken to the child are not evident until the children are 18 months old. Average change in adult word counts per day by maternal education show there is a difference of 17 words at 6 months, 568 words at 12 months and 3,851 words at 18 months. Conclusions This is the first study to be able to identify the age when socioeconomic differences in the amount of talk emerge. This has significant implications for the timing of interventions aiming to reduce the word gap, suggesting targeting the implementation of programs prior to 18 months. Key messages Socioeconomic differences in the amount parents talk to their children do not emerge until children are 18 months old.

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Validation of the Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) system for Dutch

Journal of Child Language ◽

10.1017/s0305000920000525 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-27

Author(s):

Eva BRUYNEEL ◽

Ellen DEMURIE ◽

Sofie BOTERBERG ◽

Petra WARREYN ◽

Herbert ROEYERS

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Risk Status ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Language Environment Analysis ◽

Language Environment ◽

Conversational Turns

Abstract The validity of the Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) System was evaluated for Dutch. 216 5-min samples (six samples per age per child) were selected from daylong recordings at 5, 10 and 14 months of age of native Dutch-speaking younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (N = 6) and of typically developing children (N = 6). Two native Dutch-speaking coders counted the amount of adult words (AWC), child vocalisations (CVC) and conversational turns (CT). Consequently, correlations between LENA and human estimates were explored. Correlations were high for AWC at all ages (r = .73 to .81). Regarding CVC, estimates were moderately correlated at 5 months (r = .57) but the correlation decreased at 10 (r = .37) and 14 months (r = .14). Correlations for CT were low at all ages (r = .19 to .28). Lastly, correlations were not influenced by the risk status of the children.

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Associations Between Maternal Stress, Early Language Behaviors, and Infant Electroencephalography During the First Year of Life

Journal of Child Language ◽

10.1017/s0305000920000501 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-28

Author(s):

Lara J. PIERCE ◽

Emily REILLY ◽

Charles A. NELSON

Keyword(s):

Stressful Life Events ◽

Individual Variability ◽

First Year ◽

Early Language ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

High Exposure ◽

Gamma Power ◽

Language Environment ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Conversational Turns

Abstract Associations have been observed between socioeconomic status (SES) and language outcomes from early childhood, but individual variability is high. Exposure to high levels of stress, often associated with low-SES status, might influence how parents and infants interact within the early language environment. Differences in these early language behaviors, and in early neurodevelopment, might underlie SES-based differences in language that emerge later on. Analysis of natural language samples from a predominantly low-/mid-income sample of mother-infant dyads, obtained using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system, found that maternal reports of exposure to stressful life events, and perceived stress, were negatively correlated with child vocalizations and conversational turns when infants were 6 and 12 months of age. Greater numbers of vocalizations and conversational turns were also associated with lower relative theta power and higher relative gamma power in 6- and 12-month baseline EEG – a pattern that might support subsequent language development.

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Remote Microphone System Use at Home: Impact on Child-Directed Speech

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2019_jslhr-h-18-0325 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 62 (6) ◽

pp. 2002-2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Carlos R. Benítez-Barrera ◽

Emily C. Thompson ◽

Gina P. Angley ◽

Tiffany Woynaroski ◽

Anne Marie Tharpe

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Home Environment ◽

Primary Caregivers ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Auditory Speech ◽

Audio Recordings ◽

System Use ◽

Children With Hearing Loss ◽

Language Environment ◽

The Impact

Purpose The impact of home use of a remote microphone system (RMS) on the caregiver production of, and child access to, child-directed speech (CDS) in families with a young child with hearing loss was investigated. Method We drew upon extant data that were collected via Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) recorders used with 9 families during 2 consecutive weekends (RMS weekend and no-RMS weekend). Audio recordings of primary caregivers and their children with hearing loss obtained while wearing and not wearing an RMS were manually coded to estimate the amount of CDS produced. The proportion of CDS that was likely accessible to children with hearing loss under both conditions was determined. Results Caregivers produced the same amount of CDS when using and when not using the RMS. However, it was concluded that children with hearing loss, on average, could potentially access 12% more CDS if caregivers used an RMS because of their distance from their children when talking to them. Conclusion Given our understanding of typical child language development, findings from this investigation suggest that children with hearing loss could receive auditory, speech, and language benefits from the use of an RMS in the home environment.

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Automated Assessment of Child Vocalization Development Using LENA

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2017_jslhr-l-16-0157 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 60 (7) ◽

pp. 2047-2063 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Jeffrey A. Richards ◽

Dongxin Xu ◽

Jill Gilkerson ◽

Umit Yapanel ◽

Sharmistha Gray ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Expressive Language ◽

Reliability And Validity ◽

Automated Analysis ◽

Linear Regression Models ◽

Vocal Development ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Audio Recordings ◽

Language Assessments ◽

Language Environment ◽

Full Day

Purpose To produce a novel, efficient measure of children's expressive vocal development on the basis of automatic vocalization assessment (AVA), child vocalizations were automatically identified and extracted from audio recordings using Language Environment Analysis (LENA) System technology. Method Assessment was based on full-day audio recordings collected in a child's unrestricted, natural language environment. AVA estimates were derived using automatic speech recognition modeling techniques to categorize and quantify the sounds in child vocalizations (e.g., protophones and phonemes). These were expressed as phone and biphone frequencies, reduced to principal components, and inputted to age-based multiple linear regression models to predict independently collected criterion-expressive language scores. From these models, we generated vocal development AVA estimates as age-standardized scores and development age estimates. Result AVA estimates demonstrated strong statistical reliability and validity when compared with standard criterion expressive language assessments. Conclusions Automated analysis of child vocalizations extracted from full-day recordings in natural settings offers a novel and efficient means to assess children's expressive vocal development. More research remains to identify specific mechanisms of operation.

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Dimensions of the language environment in infancy and symptoms of psychopathology in toddlerhood

10.31219/osf.io/caqez ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Lucy S King ◽

Francesca R Querdasi ◽

Kathryn Leigh Humphreys ◽

Ian Gotlib

Keyword(s):

Environmental Enrichment ◽

Maternal Sensitivity ◽

Risk And Resilience ◽

Daily Lives ◽

Environment Analysis ◽

Early Environment ◽

Prospective Association ◽

Language Environment ◽

Age Range ◽

Conversational Turns

The quality of the early environment influences the development of psychopathology. Children who are deprived of sufficient environmental enrichment in infancy may be at higher risk for developing symptoms of psychopathology in toddlerhood. In this study, we investigated the prospective association between naturalistic measures of adult language input obtained through passive monitoring of infants’ daily environments and emerging psychopathology in toddlerhood. In a sample of 100 mothers and their infants recruited from the community (mean age [range] = 6.73 [5-9] months), we used the Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) system to measure multiple dimensions of infants’ language environments, including both the quantity and consistency of adult speech and conversational turns in infants’ daily lives as well as the quantity of infant vocalizations. Subsequently, during toddlerhood (mean age [range] = 18.29 [17-21] months), mothers reported on their children’s symptoms of psychopathology. Infants who experienced more consistent adult speech and conversational turns had lower symptoms of psychopathology in toddlerhood, independent of negative emotionality in infancy, maternal depressive symptoms, and laboratory-based measures of maternal sensitivity. These findings have implications for the measurement of environmental factors that may confer risk and resilience to emerging psychopathology.

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