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Fujiki RB, Lien KM, Munday J, Thibeault SL. Socioeconomic Deprivation Detrimentally Influences Language Outcomes in Toddlers With Cleft Palate. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2024; 67:3113-3132. [PMID: 39173117 PMCID: PMC11427525 DOI: 10.1044/2024_jslhr-24-00060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2024] [Revised: 04/16/2024] [Accepted: 06/27/2024] [Indexed: 08/24/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of socioeconomic deprivation on language and developmental outcomes in toddlers with cleft palate with or without cleft lip (CP ± L). Other factors known to influence language outcomes were also considered, including home language history, history of hearing problems, syndromic diagnoses, and sex. METHOD A multicenter, cross-sectional study design was conducted. Data for 566 16-month-old toddlers with CP ± L were collected from 17 outpatient cleft palate clinics located throughout the United States. Outcome measures included the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories, LENA Developmental Snapshot, age at first word as reported by the caregiver, and the Ages and Stages Questionnaires-Third Edition (ASQ-3). Multivariable linear or logistic regression was used to determine the influence of socioeconomic deprivation, as measured by the Area Deprivation Index, on language and developmental outcomes. RESULTS Greater socioeconomic deprivation significantly predicted poorer language outcomes in toddlers with CP ± L, including receptive vocabulary words (p = .02), expressive vocabulary words (p = .02), and late-developing gestures (p = .02). Additionally, toddlers from less affluent neighborhoods produced their first words significantly later than their counterparts living in more affluent areas (p < .01). Lower maternal education levels predicted significantly increased risk for problem solving delays (p < .01), and patients with subsidized insurance were at significantly increased risk for personal-social delays on the ASQ-3 (p < .01). CONCLUSIONS Children with CP ± L are susceptible to developmental delays associated with socioeconomic deprivation. These findings have implications for identifying a child's individual risk factors for developmental language disorders when conducting speech-language assessments. Future study should examine how inequities in care can be mitigated and addressed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kari M. Lien
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City
| | - John Munday
- Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin–Madison
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2
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Hart ER, Sperber JF, Troller-Renfree SV, Ortells-Faci P, Halpern-Meekin S, Sandre A, Noble KG. Mothers with low incomes view both individual and structural interventions as potentially helpful for supporting early child development. Sci Rep 2024; 14:18374. [PMID: 39112497 PMCID: PMC11306557 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-68762-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2024] [Accepted: 07/26/2024] [Indexed: 08/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Many developmental psychologists aspire to conduct research that informs interventions and policies to prevent income-related disparities in child development. Among growing researcher discussion about the value of interventions that target "structural" and resource-related correlates of income inequality and child development (e.g., housing, food, material goods, cash), rather than individual, person-centered correlates (e.g., parenting behaviors), the perspectives of mothers with low incomes may provide important context. 281 mothers with young children and low incomes rated various structural and individual interventions, framed as having minimal costs and entry barriers, for their perceived helpfulness. Analyses were pre-registered. Overall, mothers rated all interventions very highly, though they rated structural interventions as slightly more helpful than individual interventions. Mothers rated interventions they used in the past as less helpful than those they hadn't previously used. An exploratory qualitative analysis revealed mothers' desires for supports in other intervention domains beyond those addressed in our survey. Together, mothers' responses indicated that they did not see individual interventions as inherently unhelpful due to a focus on individual states, knowledge, and skills. Implications for developmental psychology and intervention science are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma R Hart
- Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W 120thSt., Box 54N, New York, NY, 10027, USA.
| | - Jessica F Sperber
- Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W 120thSt., Box 54N, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | | | | | | | - Aislinn Sandre
- Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W 120thSt., Box 54N, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Kimberly G Noble
- Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W 120thSt., Box 54N, New York, NY, 10027, USA.
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3
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Egan-Dailey S, Gennetian LA, Magnuson K, Duncan GJ, Yoshikawa H, Fox NA, Noble KG. Child-directed speech in a large sample of U.S. mothers with low income. Child Dev 2024. [PMID: 39073390 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/30/2024]
Abstract
Research on early language input and socioeconomic status typically relies on correlations in small convenience samples. Using data from Baby's First Years, this paper assesses the causal impact of monthly, unconditional cash transfers on child-directed speech and child vocalizations among a large, racially diverse sample of low-income U.S. mothers and their 1-year-olds (N = 563; 48% girls; 2019-2020). The monthly, unconditional cash transfers did not impact mothers' child-directed speech during a 10-min at-home play session (effect sizes range from -.08 to .02), though there was wide variability within this sample. Future work will assess the impact of the continued cash transfer on children's language input and development over time.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Greg J Duncan
- University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | | | - Nathan A Fox
- University of Maryland-College Park, College Park, Maryland, USA
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4
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Asadi IA, Kasperski R, Bar-Kochva I. The relations of SES and literacy-related oral and written language skills after one year of reading instruction - evidence from novice readers of Arabic. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2024; 51:834-856. [PMID: 36330691 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000922000538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The relations between socioeconomic status (SES) and language skills at the onset of reading acquisition has not received much attention in research. In this study, a standardized battery of oral and written language tests was administered to 127 Arabic-speaking children at the end of first grade. SES-related differences were found in a line of oral language measures (vocabulary, syntax, morphology, and listening comprehension), but not in phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN), nor in any of the reading components (decoding, word reading, reading comprehension and orthographic knowledge). These findings point to a distinction between two groups of language skills with regard to their relations with SES in the first year of reading instruction. The results imply that SES should not be regarded as a mediating factor in the development of PA, RAN and reading in first grade among novice readers of Arabic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ibrahim A Asadi
- The Arab Academic College for Education, Department of special education and Learning Disabilities, Haifa, Israel
- The Unit for the Study of Arabic Language, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities. University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Ronen Kasperski
- Shaanan Academic Religious Teachers' College, Haifa, Israel
- Gordon College of Education, Haifa, Israel
| | - Irit Bar-Kochva
- German Institute for Adult Education - Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning (DIE), Bonn, Germany
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Department of Educational and Social Science, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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5
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Kucker SC, Schneider JM. Social interactions offset the detrimental effects of digital media use on children's vocabulary. FRONTIERS IN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 2:1401736. [PMID: 38948495 PMCID: PMC11213284 DOI: 10.3389/fdpys.2024.1401736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/02/2024]
Abstract
Young children's rapid vocabulary growth during the first few years is supported by input during social interactions with caregivers and, increasingly, from digital media. However, the amount of exposure to both sources can vary substantially across socioeconomic classes, and little is known about how social interactions and digital media use together predict vocabulary in the first few years of life. The current study takes a first step toward examining whether increased social interactions with other individuals may buffer the potentially detrimental effects of digital media use on language among a socioeconomically diverse sample. 305 caregivers of children between 17 and 30-months completed questionnaires about their family demographics, their child's technology use, and the child's daily routines and social interactions. Findings suggest children who experience fewer human interactions and greater technology exposure have smaller vocabularies than their peers who socialize more and use less technology, and this disparity becomes greater as children get older. Moreover, the number of social interactions moderates the link between SES, digital media, and vocabulary such that the negative impact of digital media on vocabulary for children from low SES households can be offset with increased social interactions. Together, this suggests that increasing the amount of human interactions may serve as a protective factor for vocabulary outcomes in a world where digital media use is prominent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah C. Kucker
- Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, United States
| | - Julie M. Schneider
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States
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Schneider JM, Behboudi MH, Maguire MJ. The Necessity of Taking Culture and Context into Account When Studying the Relationship between Socioeconomic Status and Brain Development. Brain Sci 2024; 14:392. [PMID: 38672041 PMCID: PMC11048655 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14040392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2024] [Revised: 04/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Decades of research has revealed a relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and brain development at the structural and functional levels. Of particular note is the distinction between income and maternal education, two highly correlated factors which seem to influence brain development through distinct pathways. Specifically, while a families' income-to-needs ratio is linked with physiological stress and household chaos, caregiver education influences the day-to-day language environment a child is exposed to. Variability in either one of these environmental experiences is related to subsequent brain development. While this work has the potential to inform public policies in a way that benefits children, it can also oversimplify complex factors, unjustly blame low-SES parents, and perpetuate a harmful deficit perspective. To counteract these shortcomings, researchers must consider sociodemographic differences in the broader cultural context that underlie SES-based differences in brain development. This review aims to address these issues by (a) identifying how sociodemographic mechanisms associated with SES influence the day-to-day experiences of children, in turn, impacting brain development, while (b) considering the broader cultural contexts that may differentially impact this relationship.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie M. Schneider
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Louisiana State University, 72 Hatcher Hall, Field House Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA;
| | - Mohammad Hossein Behboudi
- Callier Center for Communication Disorders, The University of Texas at Dallas, 1966 Inwood Road, Dallas, TX 75235, USA;
| | - Mandy J. Maguire
- Callier Center for Communication Disorders, The University of Texas at Dallas, 1966 Inwood Road, Dallas, TX 75235, USA;
- Center for Children and Families, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W Campbell Road, Dallas, TX 75080, USA
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7
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Ma Y, Zhang X, Pappas L, Rule A, Gao Y, Dill SE, Feng T, Zhang Y, Wang H, Cunha F, Rozelle S. Associations between urbanization and the home language environment: Evidence from a LENA study in rural and peri-urban China. Child Dev 2024; 95:e74-e92. [PMID: 37937886 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2022] [Revised: 06/21/2023] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023]
Abstract
In low- and middle-income countries, urbanization has spurred the expansion of peri-urban communities, or urban communities of formerly rural residents with low socioeconomic status. The growth of these communities offers researchers an opportunity to measure the associations between the level of urbanization and the home language environment (HLE) among otherwise similar populations. Data were collected in 2019 using Language Environment Analysis observational assessment technology from 158 peri-urban and rural households with Han Chinese children (92 males, 66 females) aged 18-24 months in China. Peri-urban children scored lower than rural children in measures of the HLE and language development. In both samples, child age, gender, maternal employment, and sibling number were positively correlated with the HLE, which was in turn correlated with language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Ma
- Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Xinwu Zhang
- Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Lucy Pappas
- Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Andrew Rule
- Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Yujuan Gao
- Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Sarah-Eve Dill
- Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Tianli Feng
- School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People's Republic of China
| | - Yue Zhang
- National Center for Women and Children Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Hong Wang
- Department of Child Health Care, Sichuan Provincial Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Chengdu, People's Republic of China
| | - Flavio Cunha
- Department of Economics, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Scott Rozelle
- Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
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8
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Roepstorff IT, Mayor J, Havighurst SS, Kartushina N. Same name, different representational levels? Misalignment of indirect parent-reported and direct alternative forced choice measures of emotion word comprehension in preschool children. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2024:1-16. [PMID: 38329010 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000923000727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
This study assessed the relationship between preschoolers' directly and indirectly assessed emotion word comprehension. Forty-nine two-to-five-year-old Norwegian children were assessed in a tablet-based 4-alternative forced choice (AFC) task on their comprehension of six basic and six complex emotions using facial expression photographs. Parents reported emotion word comprehension and production of the same words. Parent-reported emotion word production interacted with age to predict preschoolers' performance, with a parent-child alignment only observed for older children. Parent-reported word comprehension did not significantly predict accuracy. The results suggest that, in preschoolers, direct and indirect assessments might address distinct representational levels of emotion word comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ida Torp Roepstorff
- Department of Psychology, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 11, 8000Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Julien Mayor
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Forskningsveien 3A, 0373Oslo, Norway
| | - Sophie S Havighurst
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Forskningsveien 3A, 0373Oslo, Norway
- Mindful: Centre for Training and Research in Developmental Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Building C, 50 Flemington Street, Travancore 3032, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Natalia Kartushina
- Centre for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo, Henrik Wergelands hus, Niels Henrik Abels vei 36, 0313 Oslo, Norway
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9
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Huang R, Wang T. Novel word learning ability in 24-month-olds: The interactive role of mother's work status and education level. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2024:1-22. [PMID: 38272653 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000924000011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2024]
Abstract
Using both online and offline measures, this study investigates how maternal education and work status (stay-at-home, part-time, full-time) are jointly associated with infants' word learning ability and vocabulary size. One hundred 24-month-old infants completed a lab-based mutual exclusivity task, which assesses infants' novel word learning ability. Caregivers reported infants' productive vocabulary size using the MCDIs. There was no evidence for an association between infants' productive vocabulary size and maternal education, maternal work status, or their interaction. However, infants' novel word learning ability was significantly related to both maternal factors and their interaction. The positive association between maternal education and word learning performance was attenuated for infants of part-time and full-time working mothers compared to infants with at home mothers. These findings suggest that using real-time measures with high task demand may better capture developmental differences in infants and expand our understanding of maternal factors contributing to early language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rong Huang
- Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, USA
- Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Connecticut, USA
| | - Tianlin Wang
- Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, USA
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10
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Bergelson E, Soderstrom M, Schwarz IC, Rowland CF, Ramírez-Esparza N, R. Hamrick L, Marklund E, Kalashnikova M, Guez A, Casillas M, Benetti L, van Alphen P, Cristia A. Everyday language input and production in 1,001 children from six continents. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2300671120. [PMID: 38085754 PMCID: PMC10756310 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2300671120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/14/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Language is a universal human ability, acquired readily by young children, who otherwise struggle with many basics of survival. And yet, language ability is variable across individuals. Naturalistic and experimental observations suggest that children's linguistic skills vary with factors like socioeconomic status and children's gender. But which factors really influence children's day-to-day language use? Here, we leverage speech technology in a big-data approach to report on a unique cross-cultural and diverse data set: >2,500 d-long, child-centered audio-recordings of 1,001 2- to 48-mo-olds from 12 countries spanning six continents across urban, farmer-forager, and subsistence-farming contexts. As expected, age and language-relevant clinical risks and diagnoses predicted how much speech (and speech-like vocalization) children produced. Critically, so too did adult talk in children's environments: Children who heard more talk from adults produced more speech. In contrast to previous conclusions based on more limited sampling methods and a different set of language proxies, socioeconomic status (operationalized as maternal education) was not significantly associated with children's productions over the first 4 y of life, and neither were gender or multilingualism. These findings from large-scale naturalistic data advance our understanding of which factors are robust predictors of variability in the speech behaviors of young learners in a wide range of everyday contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elika Bergelson
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138, United Kingdom
| | | | - Iris-Corinna Schwarz
- Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, StockholmSE-106 91, Sweden
- Department of Special Education, Stockholm University, StockholmSE-106 91, Sweden
| | - Caroline F. Rowland
- Language Development Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen6525 XD, Netherlands
- Donders Centre for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen6525 XZ, Netherlands
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, ACT2601, Australia
| | | | - Lisa R. Hamrick
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN47907
| | - Ellen Marklund
- Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, StockholmSE-106 91, Sweden
| | - Marina Kalashnikova
- Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language, Donostia-San Sebastian20009, Spain
- Ikerbasque - Basque Foundation of Science, Bilbao48009, Spain
| | - Ava Guez
- Départment d’études Cognitives, École normale supérieure, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSL University, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Paris75005, France
| | - Marisa Casillas
- Language Development Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen6525 XD, Netherlands
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, ACT2601, Australia
- Comparative Human Development Department, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL60637
| | - Lucia Benetti
- School of Music, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH43210
| | | | - Alejandrina Cristia
- Départment d’études Cognitives, École normale supérieure, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSL University, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Paris75005, France
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DER Nederlanden SJ, Schaeffer JC, VAN Bakel HHJA, Dirks E. Socio-economic status and other potential risk factors for language development in the first year of life. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2023:1-21. [PMID: 37791474 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000923000478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/05/2023]
Abstract
A wide variety of language skills has been shown to be compromised in children from low socioeconomic status (SES). However, few studies have investigated the effect of SES on language development in infants. The aim of this study is two-fold: to investigate when the first SES-effects on language can be observed and to explore the effects of three variables often claimed to be linked to SES - gestational duration, stress and parent-child interaction - on language development. Parents/caregivers of 539 Dutch-acquiring infants aged 8-13 months from mid to high SES backgrounds completed a questionnaire including the LENA Developmental Snapshot (Gilkerson et al., 2017a) and the Brigance Parent-Child Interaction Scale (Glascoe & Brigance, 2002). No association was found between SES and language development. However, the results suggest that corrected age and parent-child interaction positively influence language development at this early age.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Evelien Dirks
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
- NSDSK, the Netherlands
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Venditti JA, Murrugarra E, McLean CR, Goldstein MH. Curiosity constructs communicative competence through social feedback loops. ADVANCES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR 2023; 65:99-134. [PMID: 37481302 DOI: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2023.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/24/2023]
Abstract
One of the most important challenges for a developing infant is learning how best to allocate their attention and forage for information in the midst of a great deal of novel stimulation. We propose that infants of altricial species solve this challenge by learning selectively from events that are contingent on their immature behavior, such as babbling. Such a contingency filter would focus attention and learning on the behavior of social partners, because social behavior reliably fits infants' sensitivity to contingency. In this way a contingent response by a caregiver to an immature behavior becomes a source of learnable information - feedback - to the infant. Social interactions with responsive caregivers afford infants opportunities to explore the impacts of their immature behavior on their environment, which facilitates the development of socially guided learning. Furthermore, contingent interactions are opportunities to make and test predictions about the efficacy of their social behaviors and those of others. In this chapter, we will use prelinguistic vocal learning to exemplify how infants use their developing vocal abilities to elicit learnable information about language from their social partners. Specifically, we review how caregivers' contingent responses to babbling create information that facilitates infant vocal learning and drives the development of communication. Infants play an active role in this process, as their developing predictions about the consequences of their actions serve to further refine their allocation of attention and drive increases in the maturity of their vocal behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia A Venditti
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 270 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Emma Murrugarra
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 270 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Celia R McLean
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 270 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Michael H Goldstein
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 270 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY, United States.
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13
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Asadi IA, Kasperski R, Sarid M. The cumulative effect of socioeconomic status and dyslexia on linguistic, cognitive and reading skills among Arabic-speaking children. DYSLEXIA (CHICHESTER, ENGLAND) 2023; 29:78-96. [PMID: 36883317 DOI: 10.1002/dys.1735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 12/11/2022] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Research has shown that children with dyslexia and children with a low socioeconomic status (SES) fall behind in terms of literacy acquisition, but a question remains regarding the cumulative effect of dyslexia and SES on linguistic, cognitive and reading skills. To examine the impact of cognition and environment on literacy development, we returned to the data set of 1,441 elementary school children (223 dyslexic readers and 1,241 typical readers) from low and medium-high SES backgrounds within Palestinian society in Israel who had participated in the development study of a comprehensive battery of tests in oral and written Arabic. The findings of this retrospective study reveal that, across grade levels, dyslexic readers from a low SES background showed similar performance to those from a medium-high SES background on most linguistic, cognitive and reading measures. As for typical readers, SES contributed to individual differences in all linguistic, cognitive and reading indices, with the exception of RAN. Finally, a cumulative effect of dyslexia and SES was found in relation to morphology, vocabulary, listening comprehension and text-reading accuracy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ibrahim A Asadi
- The Arab Academic College for Education, Department of special education and Learning Disabilities, Haifa, Israel
- The Unit for the Study of Arabic Language, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Ronen Kasperski
- Department of Special Education, Shaanan Academic Religious Teachers' College, Haifa, Israel
- Department of Special Education, Gordon College of Education, Haifa, Israel
| | - Miri Sarid
- Department of Learning Disabilities, Western Galilee College, Acco, Israel
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14
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HART ER, TROLLER-RENFREE SV, SPERBER JF, NOBLE KG. Relations among Socioeconomic Status, Perceived Stress, and the Home Language Environment. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2023:1-18. [PMID: 36916133 PMCID: PMC10500036 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000923000156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
While socioeconomic disparities in the home language environment have been well established, the mechanisms explaining these disparities are poorly understood. One plausible mechanism is heightened stress. The current study investigated whether maternal perceived stress was 1) associated with measures of the home language environment, and 2) mediated the relation between socioeconomic disparities and the home language environment. Data from three independent studies were analyzed, which together comprised 322 mother-child dyads. Two studies included mothers and their six- to twelve-month-old infants (N = 227). The third included mothers and their five- to nine-year-old children (N = 95). Mothers reported their educational attainment, income, and stress. Language Environment Analysis (LENA) measured the home language environment. As has been previously reported, socioeconomic disparities were observed in adult words and conversational turns. Stress did not mediate these associations, nor was it associated with adult words or conversational turns. Alternate mechanisms for future exploration are discussed.
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Roby E, Scott RM. Financial concern reduces child directed speech in a socioeconomically diverse sample. Sci Rep 2022; 12:9173. [PMID: 35654989 PMCID: PMC9163051 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-13177-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Socioeconomic status predicts the quantity and nature of child-directed speech that parents produce. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. This study investigated whether the cognitive load imposed by resource scarcity suppresses parent talk by examining time-dependent variation in child-directed speech in a socioeconomically diverse sample. We predicted that child-directed speech would be lowest at the end of the month when Americans report the greatest financial strain. 166 parents and their 2.5 to 3-year-old children (80 female) participated in a picture-book activity; the number of utterances, word tokens, and word types used by parents were calculated. All three parent language measures were negatively correlated with the date of the month the activity took place, and this relationship did not vary with parental education. These findings suggest that above and beyond individual properties of parents, contextual factors such as financial concerns exert influence on how parents interact with their children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin Roby
- Department of Pediatrics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, 550 First Ave., New York, NY, 10016, USA.
| | - Rose M Scott
- Psychological Sciences, University of California Merced, 5200 North Lake Road, Merced, CA, 95343, USA
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Dearing E, Casey B, Davis-Kean PE, Eason S, Gunderson E, Levine SC, Laski EV, Libertus M, Lu L, Lombardi CM, Nelson A, Ramani G, Susperreguy MI. Socioeconomic Variations in the Frequency of Parent Number Talk: A Meta-Analysis. EDUCATION SCIENCES 2022; 12:312. [PMID: 38282965 PMCID: PMC10811961 DOI: 10.3390/educsci12050312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Using data from 12 studies, we meta-analyze correlations between parent number talk during interactions with their young children (mean sample age ranging from 22 to 79 months) and two aspects of family socioeconomics, parent education, and family income. Potential variations in correlation sizes as a function of study characteristics were explored. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between the amount of number talk in parent-child interactions and both parent education and family income (i.e., r = 0.12 for education and 0.14 for income). Exploratory moderator analyses provided some preliminary evidence that child age, as well as the average level of and variability in socioeconomic status, may moderate effect sizes. The implications of these findings are discussed with special attention to interpreting the practical importance of the effect sizes in light of family strengths and debate surrounding "word gaps".
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Dearing
- Applied Developmental Psychology, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
| | - Beth Casey
- Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology Department, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
| | | | - Sarah Eason
- Human Development & Family Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA
| | | | - Susan C. Levine
- Department of Psychology and Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Elida V. Laski
- Applied Developmental Psychology, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
| | - Melissa Libertus
- Learning Research & Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| | - Linxi Lu
- Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
| | | | - Ariadne Nelson
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Geetha Ramani
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - María Inés Susperreguy
- Millennium Nucleus for the Study of the Development of Early Math Skills (MEMAT), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 7820436, Chile
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