The Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES), created by Brain MacWhinney and Catherine Snow in 1984, is one of the earliest Open Science and data sharing initiatives in child language development research, and probably in developmental psychology and the behavioral sciences more generally. It is the cornerstone of TalkBank--a repository of…

This study investigated family and coach responses to a two-year community-based research program, Strong Beginnings for Babies (SBB), designed to support families in fostering infant language development. The study focused on families of infants from low-income backgrounds, as these children may be at risk for delayed language development. The…

Beside parents, teachers in early childhood education and care have the greatest potential to foster language acquisition in children. This is especially important for children with language delays, language disorders or bi-/multilingual children. However, they present teachers with a particular challenge in language support. Therefore, integrated…

Offers suggestions for using talk time with toddlers in an early care setting to promote communicative interaction. Discusses how talk time was introduced and its usefulness in promoting language development, and identifying and helping delayed talkers. Describes talk time themes and strategies, including a caution not to use the time to correct…

The purpose of the LARC (Language Acquisition Resource Center) project is to implement a home-based program which will help children of ages six months to five years develop communication skills. The program is designed for children of all socioeconomic groups, although it has been set up by the Center for Urban Education (CUE) as a pilot program…

Discusses the concept of "Velcro time": a period in infants' lives when they show an increased interest in books and in their primary caregiver, and particularly, in his or her use of speech. (BB)

The Mount Gravatt Language Development and Reading Program described in this paper is the result of a conviction that teachers of reading and writing should build on the impressive and highly functional oral language system which children bring to their formal education for literacy. The paper first presents the language research on which the…

The West Virginia University Child Development Laboratory has successfully used microcomputers as a complement to their language experience approach to teaching three- and four-year-old children. The computer acts as a motivational tool, and gives children the opportunity to produce perfectly typed pictures or letters. The first encounter a child…

A one-year project to explore the use of children's language served as a basis for staff development through the North Dakota Study Group on Evaluation. Children's conversations among themselves were observed and recorded within the classroom setting, and the content of the observations were used for planning curriculum and assessing children's…

A discussion of bilingualism in young children in the Soviet Union looks at the three main forms of early bilingualism (bilingual home environment, different languages spoken at home and in school, and second language instruction in school), notes the challenges they pose for development and maintenance of bilingual skills, and then describes a…

This study examined whether the effects on cognitive and language outcomes of a recently developed home-based educational intervention program, Opstap Opnieuw, for 4-6-years-old disadvantaged children could be explained by improved mother-child interaction. The present sample (n = 30) was drawn from a larger sample of Turkish-Dutch families (n =…

This volume contains fifteen essays focussing on the themes of (a) bilingual schooling and (b) the role and prospects of the Spanish language in the United States. Eleven of the essays are written in English, and the rest are in Spanish. The essays are: (1) "Rationale of Bilingual Education in the United States," (2) "Organization of the Bilingual…

A discussion of language in preschool education reviews research findings on children's language acquisition and its relationship to their general development and examines issues to be considered in making decisions for each community and program. The first section summarizes basic knowledge about preschool language development, facilitating…