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ERIC Number: EJ1122673
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1357-5279
EISSN: N/A
Measuring Parental Language to Target Families for Early-Intervention Services
Gridley, Nicole; Baker-Henningham, Helen; Hutchings, Judy
Child Care in Practice, v22 n4 p348-367 2016
Poor language skills can have a negative effect on a developing child if not identified early. Current strategies to identify families with children who may need additional support are limited, and may not detect child language problems before they become entrenched. The present study explores observed indices of parental language as a means of identifying families whose children are at risk of poor outcomes. Fifteen-minute observations of 68 parent-toddler dyads were coded for 11 categories of parent language. Three complex measures were developed; parent prompts, encouraging and critical language. Two simple language indices (parent total words and total different words) were calculated for comparison. Two complex measures evidenced acceptable levels of inter-rater reliability, reasonable stability over time and some construct validity. "Parent prompts" predicted toddler receptive and expressive language six months later. In comparison, the two simple measures were more reliable and stable over time and just as predictive of toddler language. The findings suggest observed parental language could prove useful in identifying high-risk families in need of specific support and simple measures could be integrated into existing assessment frameworks used by early years services. Further research is required to establish the feasibility of integrating such methods into current service delivery.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A