Dimensionality of Speech-Language Pathologists' Child-Directed Talk During School-Based Therapy With Primary-Grade Students

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to examine the measurement structure of the linguistic features of speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) talk during business-as-usual therapy sessions in the public schools and to test the longitudinal stability of a theorized dimensional structure consisting of quantity, grammatical complexity, and lexical complexity.

METHOD

Seventy-five SLPs' talk during therapy sessions with primary-grade students was automatically transcribed and coded for linguistic features from a corpus of 579 videotaped therapy session videos collected at the beginning, middle, and end of one school year with an approximately 12-week interval. We explored video characteristics and conducted descriptive statistics on eight linguistic indices of SLP talk to examine the variability in SLP talk between therapy sessions. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to explore the dimensional structure of SLP talk at each time point separately for the theorized three dimensions, and we conducted longitudinal measurement invariance analyses to test the stability of the three-factor structural model across the academic year.

RESULTS

There were considerable variabilities among SLPs in the characteristics of SLP talk during therapy sessions. The proposed three-factor structure of SLP talk consisting of quantity, grammatical complexity, and lexical complexity had good model fit at all three time points. The linguistic measurement properties representing the three factors were invariant over time.

CONCLUSIONS

Results provided robust evidence of between-SLP variability in their child-directed talk, established a three-dimensional structure of the linguistic features in SLP talk, and identified that the linguistic features in SLP talk stably measured the same constructs across one school year, based on measurement invariance. The dimensions of SLP talk during therapy with students may represent important, malleable features of therapy that influence child language gains.

Kindergarteneres' Peer Relationships and Early School Absenteeism

This study used a short-term longitudinal design to examine the extent to which kindergartners': (a) peer relationships are associated with their school absenteeism; and (b) development of positive peer relationships vary as a function of their time spent in school. To address these aims, data were drawn from 801 kindergartners across 64 classrooms and 15 schools in a Midwest city in the United States. Results from covariate-adjusted regression models revealed that kindergartners' relational bonds were not predictive of their time away from school, and that their relationships with classmates were generally unaffected by absenteeism. There was, however, some indication that children's relationships with their classmates were more strongly predicted by their absenteeism for children from less educated households relative to children from more educated households.

Editorial Perspective: Maximising the benefits of intervention research for children and young people with developmental language disorder (DLD) - a call for international consensus on standards of reporting in intervention studies for children with and at risk for DLD

Current methods for reporting interventions do not allow key questions of importance to practitioners, service providers, policy-makers and people with DLD to be answered, and hence limit the implementation of effective interventions in the real world. To extend the existing EQUATOR guidelines to the context of speech language therapy/pathology for children with language disorder and to provide more specific guidance on participants, interventions and outcomes within the CONSORT checklist (used to improve the reporting of randomised controlled trials) and TIDieR (Template for Intervention Description and Replication) to ensure consistency of reporting. We will develop a core team to include representatives from each of the key groups who will either use or be influenced by the final reporting guidance across different countries. To achieve each set of aims, we will conduct reviews of the literature (which present typologies of intervention characteristics in (D)LD and related disorders); carry out focus groups; and use systematic consensus methods such as the Delphi technique, nominal group technique or consensus development conferences. Through the development and adoption of standard intervention reporting criteria, we anticipate that we will overcome the numerous barriers for practitioners, services and policy-makers in applying intervention evidence to practice. We believe that establishing international consensus on reporting guidelines would significantly accelerate progress in DLD research and the ease with which it can be used in clinical practice, by capitalising on the growth in intervention studies to enable international collaboration and new methodologies of data pooling, meta-analyses and cross-study comparisons.

Phonological processing skills in children with speech sound disorder: A multiple case study approach

BACKGROUND

Children with speech sound disorder (SSD) are at increased risk of reading difficulties due to poor phonological processing skills. However, the extent to which children with SSD demonstrate weaknesses on specific or all phonological processing tasks is not well understood.

AIMS

To examine the phonological processing abilities of a clinically identified sample of children with SSD, with and without reading difficulties. To determine the extent to which the proportion of children with concomitant SSD and reading difficulties exhibited weaknesses in specific areas of phonological processing, or a more general phonological deficit.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Data were obtained from 157 school-aged children (M_age = 77 months, SD = 7.01) in receipt of school-based speech therapy. Approximately 25% of the sample was identified as poor readers, based on a standardized measure of word decoding. We compared the proportion of children who scored at or below 1 SD below the mean, or the bottom 16th percentile, on measures of phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming and verbal short-term memory among those identified as poor readers and good readers.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

Children with SSD demonstrated a range of phonological processing difficulties, particularly on the measure of verbal short-term memory. No specific skill differentiated groups of children with SSD with and without reading difficulties; however, those classified as poor readers on the word-decoding measure exhibited more widespread difficulties, even after controlling for language ability.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

Results support a cumulative risk model such that children with SSD and reading difficulties are likely to demonstrate generally poor phonological processing abilities.

WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS

What is already known on the subject Children with SSD are at heightened risk of reading difficulties, particularly if their SSD persists into school age. However, not all children with SSD experience reading problems. Research aimed at determining which children are at the highest risk is mixed as to how best to identify which children with SSD are most likely to experience reading difficulties. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The study used a multiple case study approach to determine if performance on phonological processing skills might differentiate children with SSD who were poor readers from those who were good readers. As a group, children with SSD exhibited poor verbal short-term memory but relatively intact rapid automatized naming skills. No one phonological processing skill differentiated children who were poor readers from good readers. However, children with reading difficulties appeared to experience more general difficulties across phonological processing tasks, even after controlling for language abilities. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? A single deficit (i.e., speech sound production) is not sufficient data to make a complete diagnosis or treatment decisions. Multiple sources of data, including several aspects of phonological processing, should be obtained to understand reading risk in children with SSD.

Family Disruption and Parenting During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Using unique data from an economically and racially diverse sample of 448 caregivers with young children (ages 4-9 years) in Ohio, we assess multiple sources of family social and economic disruptions and their associations with parenting activities during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order. Caregivers reported extensive social and economic challenges during this time, while also increasing (on average) their time spent in play/learning activities. Time spent in discipline was less likely to increase during this period. We found significant associations among disadvantaged social conditions/experiences and parenting, and that some effects were moderated by 2019 household income status. Unexpectedly, changes in economic conditions, particularly caregiver job loss, were associated with higher odds of increases in reading/telling stories time across household income groups. Overall, findings indicate that social conditions associated with the stay-at-home period of COVID-19 might have been more disruptive to parenting for caregivers with young children than the short-term economic changes.

Relationships among caregiving, stress, and self-regulation in toddlers living in poverty

PURPOSE

The Developmental Psychobiological Model of Experiential Canalization (DPMEC) proposes that conditions of poverty-related adversity influence child self-regulation through parental caregiving, stress hormones, and the child's genetics. However, empirical findings investigating these relationships with prolonged stress hormones are mixed. Further, the relationships among conditions of adversity with prolonged stress hormones have seldom been investigated in toddlers living in poverty. Guided by the DPMEC, we examined the relationships among maternal caregiving, prolonged stress, and self-regulation in toddlers living in poverty in the United States, to include examining whether toddler prolonged stress mediated relations between maternal caregiving and child self-regulation.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Participants were mothers and toddlers (20 to 24 months of age) living in poverty, who provided hair samples to measure four months of average cortisol concentration to estimate prolonged stress. We used observational measures to examine maternal caregiving and indirect report to measure children's self-regulation.

RESULTS

Findings did not support the role of toddler prolonged stress in mediating the relationship between maternal caregiving and toddler self-regulation. However, multiple linear regression models showed that higher levels of maternal emotionally supportive caregiving significantly predicted better toddler soothability (b = 0.90; p = .03; 95% CI [0.10, 1.69]; partial correlation = 0.26).

CONCLUSIONS

This study adds partial support for the DPMEC to represent associations between maternal caregiving and toddler self-regulation for mothers and toddlers experiencing poverty.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

While these data come from an observational study, pediatric nurses may consider assessing maternal supportive caregiving upon reports of poor toddler soothability.

Understanding family life during the COVID-19 shutdown

OBJECTIVE

Our study investigates how changes in family contexts were associated with child behaviors during Ohio's COVID-19 shutdown of early 2020.

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic caused major economic and social changes for families. Rapid research was conducted to assess these changes and their potential impacts on child behaviors.

METHOD

Using a diverse sample of families with children aged birth to 9 years (N = 559), we describe key economic changes and parent-reported stressors experienced during Ohio's shutdown period. Then, we use regression models to examine how these family conditions were associated with child emotional distress and changes in sleep routines.

RESULTS

When parents experienced more total COVID-19 pandemic-related stressors, they also reported that their children exhibited more anxious and withdrawn, fearful, acting out, and COVID-19 pandemic-related behaviors (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Families and children living at home in Ohio experienced significant stress during the shutdown. These findings can be used to inform future studies of the social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for parents and children.

IMPLICATIONS

Families and children have experienced multiple stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers and practitioners should continue to monitor and support families and children to mitigate potential lasting consequences.

Child behavior problems during COVID-19: Associations with parent distress and child social-emotional skills

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated government-mandated shutdowns disrupted schooling, socialization, and family life for school-aged children during spring 2020. These disruptions may have contributed to increased child behavior problems. Thus, we examined behavior problems in 247 children aged 7 to 9 years during Ohio's shutdown period. We investigated whether differences in parent-reported child behavior problems were associated with concurrent parent distress during spring 2020 and/or children's social-emotional skills measured via teacher-reports from the previous year (spring 2019). Parent distress significantly predicted behavior problems, such that more distressed parents also reported more child behavior problems. Child pre-pandemic peer social skills also significantly predicted behavior problems, such that more skilled children exhibited fewer behavior problems. There were no interaction effects between parent distress and children's social-emotional skills on child behavior problems. Further research is needed to understand how children's social-emotional skills impact their ability to cope during times of epidemiological crisis.

Temperament and sleep behaviors in infants and toddlers living in low-income homes

Temperament is a dynamic trait that can be shaped by maturity and environmental experiences. In this study, we sought to determine whether and the extent to which temperament was predicted by sleeping behaviors in an understudied sample of primarily Black and White infants and toddlers living in low-income homes (N = 150). Sleeping behaviors were assessed at 15-19 months of age with caregiver report of the Tayside Children's Sleep Questionnaire. Temperament was examined as effortful control, negativity, and surgency with the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form at 9-12 months of age and with the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire Short Form at 20-24 months of age. Covariates were maternal education, household income, and child sex and race. Continuous variables were standardized, then missing data from independent variables were multiply imputed in 20 datasets. Regression analyses showed that about 1 SD improvement in toddler sleep behaviors significantly predicted about 1/5 SD better toddler effortful control. However, sleep behaviors did not significantly predict toddler surgency or negative affect. This study shows that for a sample of infants and toddlers in low-income homes, how a child learns to regulate sleeping behaviors may influence the development of overall effortful control about six months later.

Media Use Among Kindergarteners From Low-Income Households During the COVID-19 Shutdown

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the media use of children from low-income homes during school closings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

Caregivers of 151 kindergarteners from low-income homes completed questionnaires as part of a larger study. Caregivers reported how much time children spent watching television/videos and using apps on the most recent weekday and weekend days. Caregivers also reported how their child's current use of media for several different purposes compared with how much the child usually uses media for that purpose.

RESULTS

Weekly average media use was 46.3 hours or 6.6 hours per day. Counter to previous research, weekday media use was higher than weekend media use, suggesting that media was likely used as a replacement for time usually spent in school. Caregivers reported increased child media use for positive purposes, such as education and maintaining relationships with family and friends outside of the home, and potentially useful but less socially valued purposes, such as occupying the child's time while caregivers were completing other tasks. Having more children in the household was related to higher media use, and girls used media for maintaining remote relationships more than boys.

CONCLUSION

These findings provide reason for both concern and optimism for the impacts of pandemic closures on low-income children. High levels of media use seem to be prevalent in this population. However, the diverse purposes for media use suggest that caregivers relied on media to supplement children's academic and social growth at a time when school and socializing were not safe in their typical forms.

The Contribution of Vocabulary, Grammar, and Phonological Awareness Across a Continuum of Narrative Ability Levels in Young Children

Purpose Narrative skill represents a higher-level linguistic skill that shows incremental development in the preschool years. During these years, there are considerable individual differences in this skill, with some children being highly skilled narrators (i.e., precocious) relative to peers of their age. In this study, we explored the contribution of three lower-level language skills to a range of narrative abilities, from children performing below expected levels for their age to those performing much higher than the expected levels for their age. We speculated that individual differences in lower-level skills would contribute meaningfully to variability in narrative skills. Method Using a sample of 336 children between 3 and 6 years of age (M = 4.27 years, SD = 0.65), both multiple regression and quantile regression approaches were used to explore how vocabulary, grammar, and phonological awareness account for variance in children's "narrative ability index" (NAI), an index of how children scored on the Narrative Assessment Protocol-Second Edition relative to the expected performance for their age. Results Multiple regression results indicated that lower-level language skills explained a significant amount of variance (approximately 13%) in children's NAI scores. Quantile regression results indicated that phonological awareness and vocabulary accounted for significant variance in children's NAI scores at lower quantiles. At the median quantile, vocabulary and grammar accounted for significant variance in children's NAI scores. For precocious narrators, only vocabulary accounted for a significant amount of variance in children's NAI scores. Conclusion Results indicate that lower-level language skills work in conjunction to support narrative skills at different ability levels, improving understanding of how lower-level language skills contribute across a spectrum of higher-level linguistic abilities.

Sociodemographics and chronic stress in mother-toddler dyads living in poverty

Experiencing chronic stress early in life is associated with later health disparities, and poverty may be a significant stressor for both mothers and children. With a sample of primarily Black and White mothers (N = 75) and toddlers (N = 71) living in poverty in the United States, we examined the direct relations between sociodemographic conditions of poverty and chronic physiological stress. Mothers completed questionnaires on sociodemographics, including mother/toddler race, mother's education, father's education, poverty level, economic hardship, marital status, unemployment status, and toddler sex. Physiological chronic stress was measured by assaying the cortisol content of 4 cm samples of hair cut from the posterior vertex of mothers and toddlers (20-24 months of age) to represent 4 months of stress. Mothers' and toddlers' chronic stress was significantly, moderately, and positively associated. Toddlers had a trending relationship of moderately higher chronic stress if they were Black compared to not Black. Mothers had significantly, moderately higher chronic stress if they were Black or had a Black toddler (compared to not Black), not married (compared to married), or were working (compared to not working). The findings suggest that these mothers, simultaneously navigating poverty and parenting a toddler, need resources to reduce chronic stress.

Cross-domain associations between mathematical and narrative abilities in preschool-aged children

Both mathematical and narrative abilities are considered critical dimensions of children's kindergarten readiness skills and are emphasized in developmental standards and readiness assessments during the prekindergarten period. Yet, despite considerable opportunities available to educators to leverage potential cross-domain associations in their instruction, little is known about how component math skills are associated with narrative skills. The current study extends prior theoretical and empirical work on cross-domain associations by examining the extent to which component math skills, constituting a kindergarten readiness assessment battery, are associated with narrative comprehension skills in children aged 4-6 years. Two geographically distinct samples of children enrolled in a summer kindergarten readiness program in the United States (N = 108) were used to explore how early numeracy skills (e.g., counting, cardinality), math language, and patterning skills individually and together contributed to variance in narrative comprehension skills. Zero-order correlations indicated that math and narrative skills were significantly and moderately correlated, with cardinality and math language skills showing the strongest associations, followed by patterning and counting skills. Furthermore, results from a multiple regression analysis indicated that cardinality and math language each explained a significant and substantial proportion of variance in narrative comprehension skills when controlling for the other math skills. Implications for theoretical models of cross-domain development of children's cognitive skills are discussed.

Co-occurring risk and protective factors and regulatory behavior of infants living in low-income homes

Early self-regulation is a foundation for lifelong wellness and can be shaped by the interplay among several vital exposures. In this study, we examined the emergence of reliable profiles based upon exposure to risk and protective factors in infancy, determined if sociodemographic resources predict profile membership, and determined if these profiles predict early regulatory behaviors in a sample of infants reared in low-income homes. Data were collected from a sample of primarily Black or White mother-infant dyads living in low-income homes in the Midwest (n = 222) during the infants' first year of life (mean maternal age at enrollment: 26.29 years; range 18-43 years). Exposures included mother-infant interactions; father support; maternal depression, stress, and self-efficacy; home environment; food security; and breastfeeding duration. Sociodemographic resources included poverty status; economic hardship; maternal education, employment, and age; parental marital status; and infant race and sex. Infant regulatory behaviors were measured with the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Very Short Form effortful control subscale (mean age 11 months; range 8.5-14.3 months). Latent profile analysis was used to profile infants by risk and protective exposures. Regression was used to differentiate profiles by sociodemographic resources and to predict infant regulatory behavior from profiles. Three profiles emerged: low father support, good maternal mental health, and poor maternal mental health. A married mother, less economic hardship, and working mothers predicted infant exposure to good maternal mental health. Infant regulatory behavior was best when the infant was exposed to the good maternal mental health profile. Implications for future research are discussed.

Maternal Mental Health Symptoms and Clusters Predict Toddler Sleep in Low-Income Homes

The authors examined the association of maternal mental health symptoms and symptom clusters with the sleeping behaviors of toddlers living in low-income homes. The sample is comprised of 174 racially diverse mother and toddler (15-19 months old) dyads who were participating in a longitudinal birth cohort study. Dyads were initially recruited from Women, Infant, and Children clinics in a Midwestern county of the United States. Maternal mental health symptoms were measured with self-reports of depression (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression), parenting stress (Parenting Stress Index Very Short Form), and parenting self-efficacy. Toddler sleeping behaviors were measured with an adaptation of the Tayside Children's Sleep Questionnaire that assessed toddler difficulties in initiating or maintaining sleep (DIMS). Maternal mental health symptom clusters were identified with latent profile analysis and toddler DIMS were regressed on maternal mental health symptoms. We found that 1 SD worse maternal depression, parenting stress, or parenting self-efficacy predicted 0.18-0.24 SD worse toddler DIMS (p < .05). Moreover, we found that the cluster of adverse maternal mental health symptoms predicted nearly 0.75 SD worse toddler DIMS as compared with the cluster of good maternal mental health symptoms (p < .05). These findings provide insight into how maternal mental health symptom clusters may be important in understanding sleep behaviors in early toddlerhood, a sensitive period of sleep development, and underscore the need to support mothers with co-occurring adverse mental health symptoms, as their children may be at higher risk for DIMS.

Media exposure and language for toddlers from low-income homes

In the current study, we examined whether the quantity of toddlers' exposure to media was related to language skills and whether meeting the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations of limiting media exposure to one hour or less per day was related to language skills. We examined these associations in a sample of toddlers (N = 157) living in low-income homes. Toddlers were about two years of age (M = 28.44 months, SD = 1.48 months) during the first visit when parents reported on toddlers' exposure to media in the home. Toddlers were about three years of age (M = 33.61 months, SD = 1.06 months) during the second visit when direct measures of toddlers' expressive and receptive language and receptive vocabulary skills were completed. Controls were child gender, race, mothers' education, marital status, work status, and center-based child care. Results indicated that more frequent exposure to media was related to lower expressive language, but not receptive language or receptive vocabulary. The predictor of AAP recommendation was not significantly related to any child language outcomes. These results suggest that media exposure may be related to the displacement of language-enhancing activities during a critical time for toddlers' language development. However, the AAP media recommendation of one hour may not be related to language development.

Influence of Teachers' Grouping Strategies on Children's Peer Social Experiences in Early Elementary Classrooms

Most children experience some form of grouping in the classroom every day. Understanding how teachers make grouping decisions and their impacts on children's social development can shed light on effective teacher practices for promoting positive social dynamics in the classroom. This study examined the influence of teachers' grouping strategies on changes in young children's social experiences with peers across an academic year. A total of 1,463 children (51% girls, M _age = 6.79, SD_age = 1.22) and 79 teachers from kindergarten to third-grade classrooms participated in this study. Teachers rated children's behavioral problems as the most important consideration when creating seating charts or assigning children to small groups. Promoting existing or new friendships was rated as the least important consideration. Heterogeneous ability grouping, rated as somewhat important by the teachers, was associated with a decrease in children's friendships and yet also a decrease in girls' experience with peer conflicts. Our findings begin to fill in the gaps in the literature on the social impacts of ability grouping for young children.

Automatized analysis of children's exposure to child-directed speech in reschool settings: Validation and application

The present study explored whether a tool for automatic detection and recognition of interactions and child-directed speech (CDS) in preschool classrooms could be developed, validated, and applied to non-coded video recordings representing children's classroom experiences. Using first-person video recordings collected by 13 preschool children during a morning in their classrooms, we extracted high-level audiovisual features from recordings using automatic speech recognition and computer vision services from a cloud computing provider. Using manual coding for interactions and transcriptions of CDS as reference, we trained and tested supervised classifiers and linear mappings to measure five variables of interest. We show that the supervised classifiers trained with speech activity, proximity, and high-level facial features achieve adequate accuracy in detecting interactions. Furthermore, in combination with an automatic speech recognition service, the supervised classifier achieved error rates for CDS measures that are in line with other open-source automatic decoding tools in early childhood settings. Finally, we demonstrate our tool's applicability by using it to automatically code and transcribe children's interactions and CDS exposure vertically within a classroom day (morning to afternoon) and horizontally over time (fall to winter). Developing and scaling tools for automatized capture of children's interactions with others in the preschool classroom, as well as exposure to CDS, may revolutionize scientific efforts to identify precise mechanisms that foster young children's language development.

Influences of Teacher-Child Relationships and Classroom Social Management on Child-Perceived Peer Social Experiences During Early School Years

Interactions with teachers and peers are critical for children's social, behavioral, and academic development in the classroom context. However, these two types of interpersonal interactions in the classroom are usually pursued via separate lines of inquiries. The current study bridges these two areas of research to examine the way in which teachers influence child-perceived peer social support and peer victimization for 2,678 children within 183 classrooms in preschool through grade three. Two levels of teacher influence are considered, namely teacher-child closeness and conflict relationships at the child-level, and teacher management of interpersonal interactions at the classroom-level. Results of multilevel regression models showed that teacher-child closeness was associated with the growth of child-perceived peer social support from fall to spring, whereas teacher-child conflict and teachers' behavior management practices were associated with the change in child-perceived peer victimization across the academic year. These associations were unique and above and beyond the influence of children's actual peer social interactions, including reciprocal friendships and the collective classroom reputation of peer victimization. Collectively, findings highlight the multi-faceted teacher roles in shaping children's perceptions of their peer social experiences during the earliest years of schooling.

Associations Between Children's Media Use and Language and Literacy Skills

Media use is a pervasive aspect of children’s home experiences but is often not considered in studies of the home learning environment. Media use could be detrimental to children’s language and literacy skills because it may displace other literacy-enhancing activities like shared reading and decrease the quantity and quality of caregiver–child interaction. Thus, the current study asked whether media use is associated with gains in children’s language and literacy skills both at a single time point and across a school year and whether age moderates any association. Children (N = 1583) were from preschool through third grade classrooms and language and literacy skills were measured in the fall and spring of the school year. Parents reported how much time their child spends using media on a typical school day. Regression analyses showed that using 4 h or more of media was related to lower literacy gains, but not to language gains. Multilevel models conducted as a robustness check showed that this effect did not hold when accounting for classroom. In neither set of models was there an interaction between age and media use. Single-time-point models did show some associations that did not manifest in more stringent models, highlighting the limitations of correlational designs that do not have measures of children’s skills over time. Given the concern and popular press coverage around children’s media use, it is important to acknowledge non-significant effects in this domain. These non-significant associations suggest that societal fears around children’s media use may be exaggerated. Notably, however, characteristics of children’s media use, like educational content or adult co-use, may moderate any effects. The relation between media use and language and literacy growth did not differ across the age range investigated suggesting that, within this range, younger children are not more vulnerable to detrimental effects.

Relations of Maternal Depression and Parenting Self-Efficacy to the Self-Regulation of Infants in Low-Income Homes

There is increasing recognition that young children's self-regulation provides a foundation for overall wellness later in life. Yet, infants reared in poverty may exhibit less-developed self-regulation compared to their more advantaged peers. Factors associated with poverty that may influence early self-regulation include maternal depression and parenting self-efficacy. However, few researchers have examined how both parenting self-efficacy and maternal depression may affect young children's self-regulation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations among maternal depression, parenting self-efficacy, and infant self-regulation for a racially diverse sample of 142 mother-infant dyads living in low-income households in the United States. Maternal depressive symptomatology was determined with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depressive Scale. Parenting self-efficacy was determined with a self-report measure, reflecting caregivers' mindset or feelings reflecting competency as a parent of an infant. Infant self-regulation was measured by parental report of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Short Form Effortful Control subscale. While maternal depressive symptomatology and self-efficacy were directly and significantly correlated with infant self-regulation, results of a mediation model suggested that parenting self-efficacy mediated the relationship between maternal depressive symptomatology and infant self-regulation. Lower maternal depressive symptomatology predicted better parenting self-efficacy, in turn predicting better infant self-regulation. This study increases our understanding of how early factors shape the self-regulation of infants reared in low-income homes - highlighting the potential role of targeting parenting self-efficacy for parenting interventions for mothers experiencing depressive symptoms.

Triple Alignment: Congruency of Perceived Preschool Classroom Social Networks Among Teachers, Children, and Researchers

Classroom social networks are influential to young children's cognitive, social-emotional, and language development, but assessment and analyses of social networks are complex. Findings have been mixed regarding whether different informants (teachers, children, researchers) are congruent in perceiving classroom social networks. There is also a lack of discussion about the roles of network transformation (converting value networks into binary networks), a required data step for widely used statistical network analyses. This study addressed these issues based on network data of 16 preschool children containing 240 potential dyadic interactions collected from teacher ratings, child nominations, and researcher observations across 44 observation cycles over four school days. Results showed that the three informants were congruent in perceiving the classroom social network, whereas the level of congruency between the teacher-report and the researcher-report networks was the highest. Binary transformation of social networks tended to decrease the level of congruency across informants, although the level of congruency tended to be higher when more stringent binary transformation thresholds were selected.

Parents' Growth Mindsets and Home-Learning Activities: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Danish and US Parents

Mindset is a term commonly used to represent an individual’s beliefs about the role of ability and effort in learning. In this study, we assessed parental mindset—ability mindset and effort mindset—for 497 parents in two countries (United States and Denmark), all of whom had at least one child between 3 and 5 years of age. Of primary interest was assessing the relations between parental mindset and home-learning activities of four types: family learning activities, learning extensions, parental time investment, and parental school involvement. Findings showed that parents in the United States and Denmark held similar ability and effort mindsets, but differed significantly in home-learning activities, with US parents providing significantly more family learning activities, learning extensions, and parental time investment than Danish parents, although the latter had significantly higher levels of school investment. Furthermore, findings showed that parents’ effort mindset was a significant predictor of family learning activities and parental time investment and that country moderated the relations between effort mindset and parental time investment. For US parents, higher levels of effort mindset were associated with higher levels of parental time investment, but this was not the case for Danish parents. We call for experimental work to determine the causal relations between parental mindset and home-learning activities, and rigorous cross-cultural research to explore the universality of parental mindset in distinctive cultural settings.

Cognitive, Noncognitive, and Home Environment Correlates of Reading Difficulties in Primary-Grade Students With Language Impairment

Purpose This article first aimed to examine the cognitive (rapid automatized naming, phonological awareness, working memory, nonverbal cognition, and language) correlates of reading difficulty in children with language impairment (LI). Second, we considered whether noncognitive (effortful control, social competence, and behavior problems) correlates offered any explanatory value above that of cognitive factors. Third, we examined whether home environment (specifically household organization and home learning environment) would offer an additional explanatory value. Method The sample included 165 children in kindergarten and Grade 1 who were receiving intervention for LI in public schools. Standardized measures along with parent interviews/questionnaires were administered at the end of the school year. Results Logistic regression models indicated the noncognitive factors added discriminatory value to that of cognitive factors in predicting reading difficulties, whereas household factors did not. In the final model using all 11 predictors, prediction accuracy was 88.7% for the typical reading group and 54.2% for the reading difficulty group, with an overall accuracy of 76.4%. Only phonological awareness and working memory significantly contributed to predicting reading group membership when measured in kindergarten and Grade 1. Conclusions For this sample of children with LI, the most important predictors of reading were cognitive. The child's behavior and social competence improved prediction to a limited but statistically significant degree, whereas home environment did not. Overall classification was low, as only half of the children with reading difficulties were correctly predicted. Important factors differentiating good and poor emergent readers with LI were not captured in this study. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12462428.

Exposure to Environmental Toxicants and Early Language Development for Children Reared in Low-Income Households

Considerable evidence has highlighted the heightened susceptibility of developmental delay in children from low-income homes; consequently, this study explored whether environmental toxicant exposure may be a contributing factor to disruption in language and cognitive development for children reared in poverty. Using a sample of 190 low-income mothers and their young children, mothers completed questionnaires on toxicant exposure in the home environment. Exposure to toxicants, especially pesticides, was reported by about 20% of mothers at or around pregnancy, and 30% when their children were between 1 and 2 years of age. Toxicant exposure was significantly associated with lags in language and cognition even when controlling for socioeconomic factors. Study findings highlight the importance of the American Academy of Pediatrics' policy statements arguing for pediatricians to take a strong anticipatory guidance role in counseling parents to limit chemical exposure in the home and engage in safe storage practices.

Early childhood educators' knowledge about language and literacy: Associations with practice and children's learning

Educators' language and literacy knowledge is considered important for informing classroom practices and thereby supporting children's early language and literacy development. This includes both disciplinary content knowledge (knowledge concerning how oral and written language are structured and map to one another) and knowledge for practice (knowledge of effective strategies and practices for supporting early language and literacy). In this study, we examined the associations among 485 early childhood educators' content knowledge and knowledge for practice, their observed language and literacy practices, and the emergent literacy learning of 2004 children enrolled in their classrooms. We found significant, positive correlations between measures of educators' content knowledge and knowledge for practice and classroom practice, indicating that early childhood educators with greater levels of knowledge tended to exhibit more desirable classroom language and literacy practices. We also found significant, positive associations between educators' knowledge and children's print concept, letter naming, and phonological awareness learning, but not children's oral language learning. The associations between educators' knowledge and children's print concept learning were mediated by classroom practice. Together, these results reiterate the importance of educators' language and literacy knowledge and also provide some support for practice as the mechanism through which knowledge relates to children's learning.

Development of the Narrative Assessment Protocol-2: A Tool for Examining Young Children's Narrative Skill

Purpose

Narrative skill, a child's ability to create a temporally sequenced account of an experience or event, is considered an important domain of children's language development. Narrative skill is strongly predictive of later language and literacy and is emphasized in curricula and educational standards. However, the need to transcribe a child's narrative and the lack of psychometrically justified scoring methods have precluded broad consideration of narrative skill among practitioners. We describe the development and validation of the Narrative Assessment Protocol-2 (NAP-2), an assessment of narrative skill for children ages 3–6 years, which uses event-based frequency scoring directly from a video recording of a child's narrative.

Method

The NAP-2 underwent a rigorous development process involving creation of four wordless picture books and associated scripts and identification of a broad item pool, including aspects of narrative microstructure and macrostructure. We collected two narratives from each of 470 children using the NAP-2 elicitation materials and scored each with the 60 items in the initial item pool.

Results

Cross-validated exploratory factor analyses indicated a single narrative skill factor. Rasch measurement analysis led to selection of 20 items that maintained high reliability while having good fit to the model and no evidence of differential item functioning across books and gender.

Conclusions

The NAP-2 offers a psychometrically sound and easy-to-use assessment of narrative skill for children ages 3–6 years. The NAP-2 is available freely online for use by speech-language pathologists, educational practitioners, and researchers.

Supplemental Material

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.11800779

Contributions to Gain in Speech Sound Production Accuracy for Children With Speech Sound Disorders: Exploring Child and Therapy Factors

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which child- and therapy-level factors contribute to gains in speech sound production accuracy for children with speech sound disorders in receipt of school-based services. Method Data were obtained from 126 kindergarten and first- and second-grade children currently in receipt of speech therapy services in their public school setting. Pretest and posttest measures of spontaneous speech production and language ability were collected at the beginning and end of one academic year. Using a spontaneous speech sample, percentage of consonants correct (PCC) was calculated for each child; a gain score was computed by subtracting the pretest PCC score from the posttest PCC score. The children's speech-language pathologist completed weekly therapy logs during business-as-usual therapy, indicating the frequency, duration, and group composition of services throughout the school year. Results Results supported that gain in PCC from pretest to posttest was predicted by several child- and therapy-level variables. Children's initial speech sound severity was negatively related to gains in PCC. Our results also supported that the total number of therapy sessions received in a year was positively predictive of PCC gain. Interestingly, the number of individual therapy sessions was negatively associated with PCC gain. Conclusion Several malleable therapy factors contribute to gains in speech sound accuracy for children with speech sound disorders. Speech-language pathologists should consider how these factors may be manipulated to best tailor treatment to the individual needs of the children on their caseloads.

Neighborhood Influences on Perceived Social Support and Parenting Behaviors

OBJECTIVES

The aim of our study is to explore the relationships between neighborhood context, perceived social support, and parenting for low-income mothers with young infants.

METHODS

Data were collected during the first three time points from the Kids in Columbus Study, a 5-year longitudinal study on low-income families. Mother-child dyads (n = 228) were recruited from five Women, Infants, and Children Centers located in a Midwestern Metropolitan area. Data for the present study represents mother-child dyads that had completed time point 1 (infant age birth to 3-months), time point 2 (infant age 4 to 7 months), and 3 (infant age 9- to 12-months old).

RESULTS

Social support and neighborhood quality were associated with both maternal perceptions and observed parenting outcomes. Social support positively predicted maternal perceptions of self-efficacy whereas neighborhood quality was positively related to parent involvement.

DISCUSSION

Overall, social support and neighborhood quality were related to aspects of parenting in the first year of children's lives. There was no evidence that the association between social support and parenting varied as a function of neighborhood quality. This finding suggests the neighborhood qualities captured in our study do not influence mothers' ability to access social support during infancy.

Lexical-Level Predictors of Reading Comprehension in Third Grade: Is Spelling a Unique Contributor?

Purpose Considerable research effort has focused on understanding reading comprehension and reading comprehension difficulties. The purpose of this correlational study was to add to the small but growing body of literature on the role that spelling may play in reading comprehension, by investigating the full range of lexical-level literacy skills and whether spelling makes a unique contribution. This study also explored whether these relations vary with the spelling scoring metric. Method Data were collected from 63 children attending Grade 3 in a Midwestern state. In addition to measuring reading comprehension, word recognition, and vocabulary, 4 spelling scoring metrics were examined: the number of words spelled correctly, the number of correct letter sequences (CLS), and Spelling Sensitivity Scores for elements and for words. Results All spelling metrics were significantly correlated with reading comprehension. Results of hierarchical regressions showed that spelling was a significant, unique predictor of reading comprehension when the CLS metric was used. The scoring metrics were differentially related to reading comprehension. Metrics that gave credit based on orthographic precision only (number of words spelled correctly and CLS) were more highly related to reading comprehension than metrics that scored not only on orthographic accuracy but also on phonological and morphological accuracy (Spelling Sensitivity Scores for elements and for words). Conclusion These results indicate that spelling is related to reading comprehension and have theoretical and clinical implications for the use of spelling assessment. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.9947216.

Conditions of Poverty, Parent-Child Interactions, and Toddlers' Early Language Skills in Low-Income Families

Objectives The study examined the relations between parent-child interaction in the first year of life to toddlers' language skills at age 2 years for a sample of children reared in poverty; of specific interest was testing the Family Stress Model, which proposes that the conditions of poverty influence children's language skills through caregiver well-being (e.g., distress, depression) and interaction dysregulation. Methods Participants were from the Kids in Columbus Study, a birth-cohort study of children born to urban families experiencing material hardship. Caregiver questionnaires were collected when the child was 4-7 months to document poverty conditions (maternal hardship, institutional resources), caregiver well-being (depression, distress), and dysregulation in parent-child interactions. The Bayley-III assessed receptive and expressive language skills when the children were 2 years. Results On average, receptive language skills were nearly 1 SD below the normative mean. Path models showed a significant effect of caregiver-child dysregulated interactions on toddlers' language skills, and an indirect effect of maternal distress on parent-child interactions and, in turn, toddlers' language skills. Conclusions for Practice This study confirmed the theoretical Family Stress Model as a viable representation of the effects of poverty on the language skills of toddlers reared in homes experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage.

The preschool classroom linguistic environment: Children's first-person experiences

The linguistic environment of the classroom is influential to young children’s language development. To date, however, literature on the linguistic environment of child-care centers has largely examined teacher practices or children’s aggregate environment, overlooking the child’s first-person experiences and differentiated experiences within the classroom. In this study we used a new method in the educational setting that captures the learner’s perspective: head-mounted cameras. Thirteen children in one preschool classroom wore a head-mounted camera to capture their first-person experiences in one morning session, including interactions with others and the features of the child-directed speech (CDS) addressed to them. Results revealed that, from children’s personal view, the linguistic environment of the classroom is more dynamic from what previous studies have reported. Children interacted for longer with their teachers than their peers and heard more CDS from them, but for some children peers served as an additional source of language. Further, our analysis highlighted within-classroom variability in language experiences in terms of the properties of the CDS addressed to target children and how they were exposed to this input over time. Results are discussed with respect to peer influence on children’s learning, heterogeneity in learning opportunities in classrooms, and the variability of the linguistic environment over time.

Identifying Children With Clinical Language Disorder: An Application of Machine-Learning Classification

In this study, we identified child- and family-level characteristics most strongly associated with clinical identification of language disorder for preschool-aged children. We used machine learning to identify variables that best classified children receiving therapy for language disorder among a sample of 483 3- to 5-year-old children (54% affected). Using a dichotomous outcome based on receipt of language therapy, we applied the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) classification approach to a range of background data available on the children, including teacher and caregiver ratings of communication and social skills. The sample was randomly split into a training (67% of children) and test sample (33% of children) to examine out-of-sample classification accuracy. The full model had excellent classification accuracy based on area under the curve (AUC) of .87 and .85 on the training and test sets, respectively, when utilizing all available background data. Variables most strongly contributing to accurate classification of language-therapy receipt were cognitive impairment, age, gender, and teacher- and parent-reported communication, social, and literacy skills. Use of machine-learning approaches to classify children receiving language services in school settings may provide a valuable approach for identifying those factors that best differentiate children with and without language disorders from a clinical perspective.

Early-Literacy Intervention Conducted by Caregivers of Children with Language Impairment: Implementation Patterns Using Survival Analysis

This study examined implementation of an evidence-based home reading program by caregivers of children with language impairment. Caregivers received materials and supports to read with their children for 15 weeks, four times weekly; in total, 128 caregivers were enrolled. Survival analysis showed that 55% of caregivers completed the program, and the majority of dropouts did so early in the intervention. Mulitnominal logistic regression results showed that dropout was associated with household income, child literacy skills, and receipt of behavior-change techniques by caregivers, especially financial incentives (50 cents per book reading). Results may advance the science of implementation in the area of early childhood disability and could provide suggestions to improve caregivers' effectiveness in implementing interventions to their children.

Social Networks of Children With Developmental Language Disorder in Inclusive Preschool Programs

This study takes an ecological approach to examine how children with developmental language disorder (DLD) interact with their classmates within early childhood special education (ECSE) inclusive classrooms. Participants were 124 children with DLD, 56 children with other disabilities, and 247 typically developing children (M_age  = 52.42 months, SD = 6.27) from 56 ECSE inclusive classrooms. Results of social network analysis showed that children with DLD had significantly smaller peer social networks and were more likely to be isolated. Children tended to interact with peers with the same DLD status. These effects of children's DLD status were above and beyond the effects of children's social pragmatics skills.

Inattentiveness and Language Abilities in Preschoolers: A Latent Profile Analysis

Growing evidence suggests that early symptoms of inattentiveness may affect the language development and academic success of young children. In the present study, we examined the extent to which profiles of inattentiveness and language could be discerned within a heterogeneous group of preschoolers attending early childhood special education programs (n = 461). Based on parent-reported observations of children's symptoms of inattentiveness and direct assessments of children's language skills (grammar, vocabulary, and narrative ability), three distinct profiles were identified. The three groups, representing levels of severity (at risk, almost average, above average), differed not only by their end of year performance, but also with respect to which their abilities changed over the course of the academic year. Children in the poorest performing profile had poorer mean scores in the spring of their preschool year on all measures, but exhibited patterns of gain that exceeded or equaled their peers in higher-performing groups, in the domains of vocabulary and grammar. Examination of subsequent kindergarten reading skills suggested that profile differences remained consistent. Findings underscore the associations between early symptoms of inattentiveness and language difficulties, and further indicate that these relations extend to the acquisition of early reading skills. Future research is needed to corroborate these findings with more robust measures of attention, and to understand the long-term associations between inattentiveness, language and literacy, and potential effects on these associations from early intervention.

Conceptualising "dose" in paediatric language interventions: Current findings and future directions

Dose is a particularly important element of treatment for speech and language disorders, yet relatively little is known concerning how best to operationalise dose in clinical settings. This keynote provides an overview of dose as a theoretical and empirical concept and discusses recent findings that question whether "more is better" when treating children with language disorders. Given recent evidence showing that spaced treatments may result in optimal gains for children, I argue that low-frequency therapy sessions can be especially beneficial for children with language disorders when they are highly productive, providing children with high levels of dose.

Teacher-child relationships and classroom-learning behaviours of children with developmental language disorders

BACKGROUND

Children with developmental language disorders (DLDs) often struggle with classroom behaviour. No study has examined whether positive teacher-child relationships may act as a protective factor for children with DLDs in that these serve to enhance children's important classroom-learning behaviours.

AIMS

To examine the association between the quality of teacher-child relationships and teacher-rated classroom-learning behaviours of children with DLDs in both preschool and kindergarten.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Longitudinal data were collected on 191 preschoolers (mean = 42.4 months of age, SD = 11.6 months) with DLDs in special education classrooms during preschool and in kindergarten. Teacher-child relationship quality was assessed in preschool, and children's classroom-learning behaviours were measured in preschool and kindergarten. Regression models were used to examine the relationship between teacher-child relationship quality and children's concurrent and future classroom-learning behaviours.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

Positive teacher-child relationship quality in preschool was associated with better classroom-learning behaviours in preschool and kindergarten for children with DLDs. Preschool teacher-child relationship quality characterized by low levels of conflict and high levels of closeness was associated with positive classroom-learning behaviours during preschool. Teacher-child conflict but not closeness was predictive of children's classroom-learning behaviours in kindergarten.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

These results suggest that the quality of the teacher-child relationship for children with DLDs during preschool is associated within their learning-related behaviours in the classroom both concurrently and in the subsequent year. Findings suggest that teacher-child relationships should be explored as a mechanism for improving the learning-related behaviours of children with DLDs.

The Frequency and Nature of Communication Between School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists and Caregivers of Children With Language Impairment

PURPOSE

The present study investigates the extent to which school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) communicate with the caregivers of children with language impairment and the factors that are significantly associated with frequent communication. In addition, this study investigates the extent to which frequent SLP-caregiver communication is associated with change in language and literacy abilities of children.

METHOD

To address the study aims, weekly communication logs from 73 SLPs, serving 3-5 children with language impairment in grades K-2, were collected for a complete academic year. Logs detailed the frequency and nature of SLP-caregiver communication. Information regarding children's age, language ability, and socioeconomic status were gathered at study onset; additionally, SLPs completed a questionnaire about their work experience and current work conditions (e.g., caseload size and job satisfaction). Finally, children were administered grammar, vocabulary, and early literacy assessments at the beginning and end of the academic year.

RESULTS

Descriptive results indicate that (a) the most common type of communication was via homework, (b) children's socioeconomic status was related to communication frequency, and (c) increased SLP-caregiver communication related to increased grammar gains over the academic year.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that SLP-caregiver communication may be important for children's language outcomes; further studies exploring ways to support these communicative efforts are warranted.

Modeling the Early Language Trajectory of Language Development When the Measures Change and Its Relation to Poor Reading Comprehension

This study examined change in early language comprehension from 15 to 54 months for fifth-grade typical readers (n = 35), poor decoders (n = 11), or poor comprehenders (n = 16) from a nationally representative study of early child-care experiences. Changing measures of language comprehension were captured across early childhood for the 62 children. Multiple-group quasi-simplex and latent growth models were used on rank-transformed outcomes to examine children's relative rank change. Results showed that future poor comprehenders significantly declined in language comprehension over time relative to others who gradually improved. Efforts to improve language skills as a means to improve reading comprehension hinge upon the perspective that language weaknesses are a causal contributor to reading difficulties.

Predictors of Language Gains Among School-Age Children With Language Impairment in the Public Schools

PURPOSE

This study aimed to identify child-level characteristics that predict gains in language skills for children with language impairment who were receiving therapy within the public schools. The therapy provided represented business-as-usual speech/language treatment provided by speech-language pathologists in the public schools.

METHOD

The sample included 272 kindergartners and first-graders with language impairment who participated in a larger study titled "Speech-Therapy Experiences in the Public Schools." Multilevel regression analyses were applied to examine the extent to which select child-level characteristics, including age, nonverbal cognition, memory, phonological awareness, vocabulary, behavior problems, and self-regulation, predicted children's language gains over an academic year. Pratt indices were computed to establish the relative importance of the predictors of interest.

RESULTS

Phonological awareness and vocabulary skill related to greater gains in language skills, and together they accounted for nearly 70% of the explained variance, or 10% of total variance at child level. Externalizing behavior, nonverbal cognition, and age were also potentially important predictors of language gains.

CONCLUSIONS

This study significantly advances our understanding of the characteristics of children that may contribute to their language gains while receiving therapy in the public schools. Researchers can explore how these characteristics may serve to moderate treatment outcomes, whereas clinicians can assess how these characteristics may factor into understanding treatment responses.

Longitudinal Impacts of Print-Focused Read-Alouds for Children With Language Impairment

PURPOSE

Preschoolers with language impairment (LI) are prime candidates for early-literacy interventions, given their susceptibility for future reading difficulties. To date, most studies of early-literacy interventions for this population has assessed short-term impacts, with limited attention to whether initial effects are sustained over time. This study was designed to evaluate longitudinal impacts of print-focused read-alouds implemented by early childhood special education teachers for a clinic sample of children with LI.

METHOD

Assessment data available for 172 children with LI were analyzed to examine their print knowledge 1-year postintervention. Measures examined children's alphabet knowledge, print concepts, and name-writing skills, which were used to derive a print-knowledge composite.

RESULTS

Results of hierarchical linear models examining children's print knowledge at 1-year postintervention showed that the effect size (d = 0.20) favoring the treatment group was similar to that observed one year prior (d = 0.21) at the end of intervention, suggesting that results did not fade over time. Results also showed that children with LI and comorbid low nonverbal cognition benefited the most from the intervention delivered 1 year earlier.

CONCLUSION

The maintenance of short-term effects to 1-year postintervention supports the value of early childhood teachers using print-focused read-alouds to improve the early-literacy skills of children with LI in their classrooms.