Understanding the sequential associations between caregiver responsivity and child communication is pivotal for enhancing child outcomes and guiding effective interventions. This dissertation study evaluates the LENA Start™ on caregiver-child communication, focusing on sequential association between caregiver and child communicative behaviors.…

Joint attention and imitation are thought to facilitate a developmental cascade of language and social communication skills. Delays in developing these skills may affect the quality of children's social interactions and subsequent language development. We examined how responding to joint attention and object imitation skills predicted rate of…

Introduction: Children's early language and communication skills are efficiently measured using parent report, for example, communicative development inventories (CDIs). These have scalable potential to determine risk of later language delay, and associations between delay and risk factors such as prematurity and poverty. However, there may be…

Oral language is the primary means through which a child controls, describes, organises, and evaluates their life experiences and their ability to use oral language which effectively impacts their future literacy development. Currently, the world is awash with dynamic change and constant disruption. These include natural disasters such as the…

In this article, the authors argue for what Édouard Glissant terms the 'right to opacity' in teaching and assessing communication and language skills in early childhood education (ECE). We draw from Glissant's writing on Relation, and his interrelated concepts of 'opacity' and 'transparency', to consider two vignettes from sensory ethnographic…

The primary purpose of the current pilot study was to test the effects of an adapted and collaborative intervention model with a systematic teaching approach on Latina Spanish-speaking caregivers' use of "EMT en Español Para Autismo" strategies with their young children on the autism spectrum. A multiple baseline across behaviors single…

To address the variability of naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention outcomes, the current study sought to isolate the effects of the instructional strategies of caregiver-mediated naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions. In this comparative efficacy trial, mothers of 111 autistic children (18-48 months) were randomized to…

Many children on the autism spectrum struggle significantly in their early language development, entering kindergarten with little or no functional speech (Kasari et al., 2014; Rose et al., 2016). Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBIs) are a promising approach for supporting early language and communication development for…

Background: Speech and language therapy (SLT) services are fundamental for communication, academic and social development. Evidence shows that demand for services is increasing, and this can adversely affect the quality of care. There are limited published studies in relation to the demand and quality of speech and language services in Malta.…

Young children from low-SES backgrounds are at higher risk for delayed language development, likely due to differences in their home language environment and decreased opportunities for back and forth communicative exchange. Intervention strategies that encourage reciprocal caregiver-child interactions may effectively promote young children's…

Purpose: This study aimed to (a) provide speech-language pathologists and researchers with a play-based procedure to measure the expression of spoken communicative intents by children aged 3 to 4.5 years and (b) present indicators of these children's capacity to produce these intents in this context. Method: A method inspired by TRIAGE (Technique…

Children begin to show symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders early on in their development. Providing early intervention that is culturally responsive to both families and the child receiving the service is vital for the child's growth. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore 14 Latin American Spanish-speaking parents' reactions…

Purpose: This article describes the developmental trajectories of four communication-related parameters (i.e., intelligibility, articulation rate, fluency, and communicative efficiency) in a cross-sectional study of typically developing children between 3 and 9 years. The four target parameters were related to auditory-perceptual parameters of…

Children facing adversity are at greater risk of experiencing language difficulties than their peers. This study aims to examine the association between specific maternal responsive behaviours at 24 months and language outcomes at the age of 5 years in a cohort of mothers and children facing adversity. Mother-child dyads (n = 138) facing adversity…

A majority of children's language learning experiences occur in inclusive early child care and education settings. Few evidence-based professional development (PD) programs exist to empower early childhood education providers to use language instruction practices with children in inclusive classrooms. There is little research on providers'…