Parent-child Language Research Articles

Telehealth pivotal response treatment parent training: A pilot study

ABSTRACT The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility, benefits, and acceptability of a telehealth Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) parent training program. Autistic children (N = 21; 2–6 years) with language delay and their parents participated in the 12-week program. Parent-report measures and parent–child home videos were used to assess changes in parent PRT treatment adherence and child language. Changes in child affect were used to assess intervention acceptability. At the end of the program, treatment adherence improved, and children made more intelligible utterances. Child communication skills as measured by parent-report on several standardized questionnaires also improved. This study demonstrates the benefits of telehealth parent training for improving child language and parent PRT implementation. Our findings also provide preliminary evidence of PRT acceptability. Randomized controlled trials are an important next step to evaluate the impact of telehealth parent training as a tool for overcoming barriers to accessing intervention.

Echoing Parental Scaffolding Style in Co–Constructed Narratives: Its Impact on Executive Function Development in Diverse Early School-Age Children

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Early elementary school is a crucial time for the development of executive functions, but less is known about the impact of parent-child narratives on executive function development in children of this age group. This study aims to investigate the influence of parental scaffolding styles in parent-child co-constructed narratives in the development of transitional kindergartners’ executive function. The sample comprised 35 Hispanic and non-Hispanic parent-child dyads, who were video recorded discussing a past experience at home. Video recordings were transcribed and coded for parental scaffolding strategies. Through principal component analysis, three scaffolding styles were identified: elaborative, eliciting, and echoing. Children’s executive function was measured using the pencil tap task. Hierarchical linear regression analysis revealed that parents’ echoing scaffolding style was positively and significantly associated with children’s executive function outcomes, after controlling for child expressive language, maternal education, and parent dominant narrative languages. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight that the way parents scaffold their children’s narratives can have a positive impact on their development of executive function. It also emphasizes the need for educators and practitioners to recognize the role of parent-child language interactions in supporting children’s cognitive development, and to collaborate with families to promote positive developmental outcomes.

Parental Responsivity and Child Communication During Mother-Child and Father-Child Interactions in Fragile X Syndrome.

Past research shows that parentally responsive behavior toward the child positively influences language development in both neurotypical children and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including those with fragile X syndrome (FXS); however, most studies have focused exclusively on the mother-child relationship. The current study examined relationships between parent behavior (i.e., responsivity and behavior management) and child language performance in both mother-child and father-child interactions, as well as relationships between child characteristics and both parent behavior and child language. Participants were 23 families of young boys with FXS between 3 and 7 years of age. Mothers and fathers independently completed questionnaires assessing child characteristics and separately engaged in 12-min play-based interactions with their child via telehealth. One parent also completed a comprehensive interview assessing child adaptive behavior. Video recordings of the parent-child interactions were transcribed and coded for parent and child behavior, and measures of parent and child language were obtained from the transcripts. Mothers and fathers used similar rates of responsive behaviors during parent-child interactions, and parental responsivity was positively associated with some aspects of child language performance (i.e., talkativeness and lexical diversity). Parental behavior, however, was not associated with syntactic complexity. Older children and children with higher levels of adaptive behavior had parents who used higher rates of responsive behaviors. Fathers used higher rates of behavior management strategies compared to mothers, and this type of parent behavior was not associated with child language. Overall, this study provides evidence that interventions focused on increasing parental responsiveness would be beneficial for families of children with FXS and that these interventions should be delivered early given the association between responsivity and child age. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25229939.

Childhood conduct problems and parent–child talk during social and nonsocial play contexts: a naturalistic home-based experiment

Parent–child interactions are a critical pathway to emotion socialization, with disruption to these processes associated with risk for childhood behavior problems. Using computational linguistics methods, we tested whether (1) play context influenced parent–child socioemotional language, and (2) child conduct problems or callous-unemotional traits were associated with patterns of socioemotional or nonsocial language across contexts. Seventy-nine parent–child dyads (children, 5–6 years old) played a socioemotional skills (“social context”) or math (“nonsocial context”) game at home. We transcribed and analyzed game play, which had been audio recorded by participants. The social context elicited more socioemotional and cognitive words, while the nonsocial context elicited more mathematical words. The use of socioemotional language by parents and children was more strongly correlated in the social context, but context did not moderate the degree of correlation in cognitive or mathematical word use between parents and children. Children with more conduct problems used fewer socioemotional words in the social context, while children with higher callous-unemotional traits used fewer cognitive words in both contexts. We highlight the role of context in supporting socioemotionally rich parent–child language interactions and provide preliminary evidence for the existence of linguistic markers of child behavior problems. Our results also inform naturalistic assessments of parent–child interactions and home-based interventions for parents and children facing socioemotional or behavioral challenges.

The impact of a community-based music program during infancy onthe quality of parent-child language interactions.

The early language environment, especially high-quality, contingent parent-child language interactions, is crucial for a child's language development and later academic success. In this secondary analysis study, 89 parent-child dyads were randomly assigned to either the Music Together® (music) or play date (control) classes. Children were 9- to 15-month old at baseline, primarily white (86.7%) and female (52%). Measures of conversational turns (CTs) and parental verbal quality were coded from parent-child free play episodes at baseline, mid-intervention (month 6), and post-intervention (month 12). Results show that participants in the music group had a significantly greater increase in CT measures and quality of parent verbalization post-intervention. Music enrichment programs may be a strategy to enhance parent-child language interactions during early childhood.

Page and screen: Storybook features that promote parent-child talk during shared reading

The purpose of this study was to systematically vary the medium used for shared reading (digital versus print), the presence of an audio narration feature, and the inclusion of a character offering conversational prompts to identify their impact on parent-child language. In a randomized experimental design, 67 children (2.75–5.10 years old) shared a book with a parent twice. Built-in conversational prompts were effective in increasing the quantity and quality of extratextual language and conversation. There was no evidence that the book being digital in format nor having automatically-playing narration decreased language or conversation quality compared to reading the print version. Based on this study, it appears that carefully designed digital books, including those with narration, provide similar opportunities for engaging in high-quality shared reading as print books. Parents may wish to select digital books with built-in prompts to provide even greater opportunities and support for rich conversation.

The home language environment in rural China: variations across family characteristics

BackgroundA rich language environment is an important element of a nurturing home environment. Despite their proven importance, vocabulary and conversation have been shown to vary widely across households—even within the same socio-economic class. One significant gap in the existing literature is its nearly exclusive geographic focus on Western and developed settings, with little attention given to poorer communities in lower/middle income countries. The purpose of this study was to empirically illustrate the characteristics of the home language environment in the low SES, non-Western cultural setting of rural China.MethodsUsing Language Environment Analysis (LENA) automated language-analysis system, this study measured the home language environment of 38 children aged 20-27 months in Northwest rural China. Our primary measures of the home language environment were Adult Word Count (AWC), Conversational Turn Count (CTC) and Child Vocalization Count (CVC). Multivariate linear regression models were used to examine the association between home language environment and family/child characteristics, and language skills (Measured by MacArthur-Bates Communicative Developmental Inventory score).ResultsIn this paper, by comparison, we found that the home language environment of our rural sample fell far behind that of urban households. We also identify significant, positive correlations between language skills and both AWC and CTC. Our analysis finds no significant correlations between home language environment and family/child characteristics.ConclusionIn this paper, we present the first ever findings using the LENA system to measure the home language environment of young children from poor rural communities in China. We found that the home language environment of lower-SES household was significantly worse than high-SES households, and demonstrated the importance of the home language environment to language skills, pointing to a need for more high-quality studies of the home language environment in rural China to better understand possible mechanisms behind low levels of parent-child language engagement and ways to improve the home language environment.

Associations between responsive parental behaviours in infancy and toddlerhood, and language outcomes at age 7 years in a population-based sample.

A wealth of evidence supports the important role high-quality parent-child interactions play in children's early language acquisition. However, the impact on later language outcomes remains unclear. To examine the associations between responsive parental behaviours across the early years and child language outcomes at age 7 years with families from an Australian longitudinal cohort study (N = 1148, 50% female). At child ages 12, 24 and 36 months, parents completed a self-report measure of responsive parental behaviours. Child language was directly assessed at age 7 using the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, 4th edition (CELF-4), Australian Standardisation. Linear regression was used to examine associations between responsive parental behaviours from 12 to 36 months (consistently high, inconsistent and consistently low responsive parental behaviours at the three time points) and language scores at age 7 years. Adjusted models were run, including the following potential confounders: child sex; birth weight; birth order; maternal education; socio-economic disadvantage; non-English-speaking background; family history of speech-language problems; mother's vocabulary score; maternal mental health score; and mother's age at birth of child. A final adjusted model was run, including the potential confounder variables as well as adjusting for children's earlier language skills. Linear regression results showed children with parents who rated high on responsive parental behaviours at all three time points had higher mean language scores at age 7 than children whose parents reported low responsive parental behaviours across early childhood. This association attenuated after adjusting for earlier child language skills. Findings support the consistent use of responsive parental behaviours across the very early years of childhood to support long-term language outcomes. Findings also suggest that models of surveillance and support which monitor and assist families at multiple time-points over the early years are likely to be most effective for preventing ongoing language difficulties. What is already known on this subject There is extensive evidence consistently demonstrating the important contribution of aspects of parent-child interaction, specifically responsive parental behaviours, to children's language development. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge Understanding the cumulative benefit of responsive parent-child interactions across the very early years may help to inform preventive interventions and service delivery models for supporting young children's language development. This study demonstrates in a large, population-based cohort the contribution of consistency of responsive parental behaviours during infancy and toddlerhood to school-age language outcomes, accounting for other child, family and environmental factors. Capturing regular parent behaviours via self-report during the early years may be a more efficient and less costly method than parent-child interaction observations to monitor the home language-learning environment during routine developmental checks. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Findings support the need for surveillance of children and families in the early years, ensuring that intervention occurs when families need it most, that is, support is responsive to changing needs and that nuanced advice and support strategies are provided to activate positive developmental cascades. Capturing both parent behaviours and child language may assist clinicians to identify those families who may benefit from parent-child interaction intervention.

Parent-child language differences and ethnolinguistic minority children’s evaluations of family life

ABSTRACT Within ethnolinguistic minority families, parents and children often differ in language usage and proficiencies. In this study, we investigate the role of intergenerational language differences in cultivating and/or complicating family relations and how aspects of gender may moderate these relationships. Guided by the Family Language Policy framework, we expand the concept of intergenerational language differences beyond language use and proficiencies to incorporate language attitudes and language management indicators. Binomial logistic regression models were used to estimate the likelihood of children (N = 823; aged 10–12) reporting high levels of family friction and cohesion. Our results show that parent-child differences in language use and proficiencies are associated with family friction but not with cohesion, whereas differences in language attitudes impact family cohesion. Brokering has a significant negative impact on perceptions of family relations while language rules are not related to conflict or cohesion. Our interaction analyses suggest that the influence of parent-child language differences on family relations is more pronounced for the father-daughter dyad.

A Longitudinal Study of Language Use During Early Mother-Child Interactions in Spanish-Speaking Families Experiencing Low Income.

This longitudinal study assessed continuity and stability of productive language (vocabulary and grammar) and discourse features (turn-taking; asking and responding to questions) during mother-child play. Parent-child language use in 119 Spanish-speaking, Mexican immigrant mothers and their children at two ages (M = 2.5 and 3.6 years) was evaluated from transcriptions of interactions. Child productive language significantly increased over the year, whereas mothers showed commensurate increases in vocabulary diversity but very little change in grammatical complexity. Mother-child discourse was characterized by discontinuity: Mothers decreased their turn length and asked fewer questions while children increased on both measures. Rates of responding to questions remained high for both mothers and children even as children increased and mothers decreased over time. Mothers and children showed significant rank-order stability in productive language and measures of discourse. Mothers' rate of asking questions and children's responses to questions during the first interaction predicted children's receptive vocabulary a year later. As children become more sophisticated communicators, language input remains important, with discourse features growing in relevance. Children's early opportunities to respond to parents' questions in the context of play benefit their language skills. This work extends the evidence base from monolingual English-speaking families and is interpreted in the context of prior research on parenting practices in U.S. families of Mexican origin.

The effects of maternal input on language in the absence of genetic confounds: Vocabulary development in internationally adopted children

Previous studies have found correlations between parent input and child language outcomes, providing prima facie evidence for a causal relation. However, this could also reflect the effects of shared genes. The present study removed this genetic confound by measuring English vocabulary growth in 29 preschool-aged children (21girls) aged 31-73months and 17 infants (all girls) aged 15-32months adopted from China and Eastern Europe and comparing it to speech produced by their adoptive mothers. Vocabulary growth in both groups was correlated with maternal input features; in infants with mean-length of maternal utterance, and in preschoolers with both mean-length of utterance and lexical diversity. Thus, input effects on language outcomes persist even in the absence of genetic confounds.

Mapping the literature on parent-child language across activity contexts: a scoping review

ABSTRACT Linguistic interactions between parents and their children are frequently studied to investigate how children acquire language. From observations, researchers have identified interaction strategies that foster children’s language development. In turn, interventions to support children’s early language skills employ styles of interaction derived from these observations. However, researchers have not often considered how the activity context selected for observation may affect the language used, or whether these contexts reflect children’s diverse experiences. The aim of this scoping review was to explore the breadth of literature about language use across a range of activities. Included studies described linguistic outputs of parents and typically developing children (aged 1;0–5;11 years) and activity context(s). Searches were conducted in PsycInfo, Medline, CINAHL, ERIC-ProQuest and Google Scholar. From 16,718 records, 59 studies were retained. Studies were charted according to the population included, linguistic outputs recorded, activity contexts studied and the methodological design. To allow for comparison of results across activity contexts, five thematic categories were identified: play activities, book reading, naturalistic routines, media and methodological implications. Challenges for future research are discussed, including ways to ensure the ecological validity of findings by coupling naturalistic language recordings with data collected during diverse everyday activity contexts.

Maternal Use of Decontextualized and Contextualized Talk: An In-Depth Investigation of Early Parent-Child Interactions in Down Syndrome.

Purpose The goal of this study was to characterize and quantify maternal use of decontextualized and contextualized input during mother-child interactions including young children with Down syndrome (DS). Method Participants included 22 mother-child dyads with DS (M age = 42.8 months) and 22 mother-child dyads with typical development (M age = 44.0 months). Parent-child language samples were collected during free-play, book reading, and snack time, and coded for maternal decontextualized (i.e., pretend, explanatory, and narrative talk) and contextualized input (i.e., descriptions, conversation, praise, questions, and directives). Results Mothers of children with DS used a larger proportion of pretend talk compared to other types of decontextualized input and also used a larger proportion of questions, conversation, and descriptions compared to other types of contextualized language. Mothers of children with DS generally used a smaller proportion of decontextualized input compared to mothers of children with typical development, with the exception of pretend talk. Maternal decontextualized input was not related to children's age or language ability in DS. Conclusions Findings shed new light on the early language environments of children with DS, providing important insight into the ways that mothers of children with DS are incorporating decontextualized and contextualized talk into early mother-child conversations. Additional implications and future directions are discussed.

The Association of the Parent-Child Language Acculturation Gap with Obesity and Cardiometabolic Risk in Hispanic/Latino Youth: Results from the Hispanic Community Children's Health Study/Study of Latino Youth (SOL Youth).

Hispanic/Latino youth are disproportionately burdened by obesity and have a high prevalence of prediabetes and dyslipidemia. Differences in parent and child acculturation related to language use and preference (i.e., language acculturation) are associated with adverse cardiometabolic health behaviors, but no study has examined associations with cardiometabolic markers. To determine whether discordance in parent-child language acculturation (parent-child acculturation gap) was associated with poor youth cardiometabolic health. Hispanic/Latino 8-16-year-olds (n = 1,466) and parents from the Hispanic Community Children's Health Study/Study of Latino Youth (SOL Youth) were examined. Mean scores for the Brief ARSMA-II's Anglo (AOS) and Latino (LOS) Orientation Scales represented language acculturation. Cardiometabolic markers included youth body mass index (BMI) percentile, blood pressure percentiles, and dysglycemia and hyperlipidemia measures. Missing data were imputed. Survey-weighted multivariable linear regression examined the association of youth, parent, and youth × parent (the acculturation gap) AOS and LOS scores separately with each cardiometabolic marker. Youth reported greater English and lower Spanish use than parents. Greater discordance in AOS scores was associated with elevated BMI percentile only (p-for-interaction < .01). The LOS acculturation gap was not associated with any outcome. Adjustment for acculturative stress, family functioning and closeness, parenting style, and youth's diet and physical activity did not alter findings. Removal of nonsignificant acculturation gaps did not indicate an association between individual youth or parent AOS or LOS scores and any cardiometabolic marker. Discordance in Hispanic/Latino parent-child dyads' English use may relate to increased risk for childhood obesity. Future studies should identify mediators of this association.

Towards a biopsychosocial understanding of neurodevelopmental outcomes in children with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy: A mixed-methods study

Objective Children with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) are at high risk of neurodevelopmental delay despite the widespread adoption of therapeutic hypothermia. Thus, consideration of both biological and psychosocial factors is warranted to better predict outcomes. We examined the associations between various child neurodevelopmental outcomes and potentially influential factors such as brain imaging, parent mental health, previous intervention, and social risk. Qualitative themes in the parent experience were also identified from free-text questionnaire responses. Methods: Parents of 54 children with HIE (ages 6 months–6.5 years) completed questionnaires capturing sociodemographic factors, qualitative perceptions of clinical outcome, parent mental health, and ratings of child adaptive and psychosocial functioning. Neurodevelopmental assessment scores at 18 and 36 months were extracted retrospectively from the medical chart for a subset of children. Results: Linear regression analyses showed significant associations between poorer parent mental health and child psychosocial and language outcomes. In multivariable analyses, social risk served as a significant predictor of 18 and 36 month cognitive and language functioning. Qualitative analyses of parents’ written reflections revealed themes of hopefulness and ongoing concern. Conclusion: In children with HIE, social context and parent mental health are strong contributing factors in the pathway of neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Parent education to improve early language development: A preliminary evaluation of LENA StartTM.

Parents play an important role in creating home language environments that promote language development. A nonequivalent group design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a community-based implementation of LENA Start™, a parent-training program aimed at increasing the quantity of adult words (AWC) and conversational turns (CT). Parent-child dyads participated in LENA Start™ (n = 39) or a generic parent education program (n = 17). Overall, attendance and engagement in the LENA StartTM program were high: 72% of participants met criteria to graduate from the program. Within-subject gains were positive for LENA Start™ families. Comparison families declined on these measures. However, both effects were non-significant. Between-group analyses revealed small to medium-sized effects favoring LENA Start™ and these were significant for child vocalizations (CV) and CT but not AWC. These results provide preliminary evidence that programs like LENA StartTM can be embedded in community-based settings to promote quality parent-child language interactions.

Reciprocal Influences Between Parent Input and Child Language Skills in Dyads Involving High- and Low-Risk Infants for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

We examined the language input of parents of infants at high and low familial risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and investigated reciprocal associations between parent input and child language skills in the first 2 years of life. Parent-infant dyads (high-risk: n = 53; low-risk: n = 33), 19 of whom included an infant later diagnosed with ASD, were videotaped during free play interactions at 12, 18, and 24 months. Measures of parent input were derived from parent-child interactions. Children's language skills were assessed using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning at 12, 18, and 24 months. Results suggested that (a) parents of high- and low-risk infants produced similar word tokens, word types, and proportions of contingent verbal responses, but parents of high-risk infants used shorter mean length of utterances (MLU) than parents of low-risk infants at 18 and 24 months; (b) parents' MLU at 18 months was positively associated with their infants' language at the subsequent visit after 6 months, regardless of group; and (c) infants' language at 18 months was positively associated with parents' MLU at the subsequent visit after 6 months in the high-risk group only. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying early language learning of high-risk infants who have an increased risk for language delays and deficits. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1168-1183. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Parents provide an important source of language input to their children. In this study, we looked at parent input to infants at high- and low-risk for autism spectrum disorder and relations between parent input and child language in the first 2 years of life. We found that parents of high- and low-risk infants provided similar quantity and quality of input, except shorter average length of utterances at 18 and 24 months in the high-risk group. Also, there were bidirectional relations between parent input and child language at 18 and 24 months in high-risk pairs, suggesting that parents and children collectively shape the early language environment.

The role of maternal psychosocial perceptions in parent-training programs: a preliminary randomized controlled trial.

Parent-child interaction is critical for early language and literacy development. Parent training programs have proliferated to support early interactions. However, many environmental and psychosocial factors can impact the quality of parent-child language and literacy interactions as well as training program outcomes. This preliminary randomized controlled trial examined maternal perceived self-efficacy and locus of control during a language and literacy parent training program. Thirty mother-child dyads (mother age 21-40; children 2;6-4;0) were assigned in parallel to the training or control group. The training was efficacious for mothers and children - training-group dyads made significantly greater gains in maternal strategy use, responsivity, and child print awareness than the control group. Gains were maintained one month post-training. Children whose mothers had more external baseline control perceptions identified significantly fewer print targets at baseline and made greater gains than those with more internal control perceptions. Future directions and implications are discussed.

Association of Parent Training With Child Language Development

Training parents to implement strategies to support child language development is crucial to support long-term outcomes, given that as many as 2 of 5 children younger than 5 years have difficulty learning language. To examine the association between parent training and language and communication outcomes in young children. Searches of ERIC, Academic Search Complete, PsycINFO, and PsycARTICLES were conducted on August 11, 2014; August 18, 2016; January 23, 2018; and October 30, 2018. Studies included in this review and meta-analysis were randomized or nonrandomized clinical trials that evaluated a language intervention that included parent training with children with a mean age of less than 6 years. Studies were excluded if the parent was not the primary implementer of the intervention, the study included fewer than 10 participants, or the study did not report outcomes related to language or communication. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were applied to a total of 31 778 articles identified for screening, with the full text of 723 articles reviewed and 76 total studies ultimately included. Main outcomes included language and communication skills in children with primary or secondary language impairment and children at risk for language impairment. This meta-analysis included 59 randomized clinical trials and 17 nonrandomized clinical trials including 5848 total participants (36.4 female [20.8%]; mean [SD] age, 3.5 [3.9] years). The intervention approach in 63 studies was a naturalistic teaching approach, and 16 studies used a primarily dialogic reading approach. There was a significant moderate association between parent training and child communication, engagement, and language outcomes (mean [SE] Hedges g, -0.33 [0.06]; P < .001). The association between parent training and parent use of language support strategies was large (mean [SE] Hedges g, 0.55 [0.11], P < .001). Children with developmental language disorder had the largest social communication outcomes (mean [SE] Hedges g, 0.37 [0.17]); large and significant associations were observed for receptive (mean [SE] Hedges g, 0.92 [0.30]) and expressive language (mean [SE] Hedges g, 0.83 [0.20]). Children at risk for language impairments had moderate effect sizes across receptive language (mean [SE] Hedges g, 0.28 [0.15]) and engagement outcomes (mean [SE] Hedges g, 0.36 [0.17]). The findings suggest that training parents to implement language and communication intervention techniques is associated with improved outcomes for children and increased parent use of support strategies. These findings may have direct implications on intervention and prevention.

Childes-db: A flexible and reproducible interface to the child language data exchange system.

The Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES) has played a critical role in research on child language development, particularly in characterizing the early language learning environment. Access to these data can be both complex for novices and difficult to automate for advanced users, however. To address these issues, we introduce childes-db, a database-formatted mirror of CHILDES that improves data accessibility and usability by offering novel interfaces, including browsable web applications and an R application programming interface (API). Along with versioned infrastructure that facilitates reproducibility of past analyses, these interfaces lower barriers to analyzing naturalistic parent-child language, allowing for a wider range of researchers in language and cognitive development to easily leverage CHILDES in their work.