The first years of life are critical for language development. Numerous studies indicate that actively participating in music creates a neural processing advantage in brain regions that support language development. Nevertheless, shared social characteristics between music and language may also play a role in explaining the benefits of music…

Children who receive copious amounts of language stimulation from caring adults are likely to develop strong language skills, whereas children who receive limited language stimulation may experience delays. Little is known about the language stimulation strategies that families prefer to use. This mixed-methods study investigated families'…

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…

In some areas of rural Africa, long-standing cultural traditions and beliefs may discourage parents from verbally engaging with their young children. This study assessed the effectiveness of a parenting program designed to encourage verbal engagement between caregivers and infants in Wolof-speaking villages in rural Senegal. Caregivers (n = 443)…

Early identification and appropriate intervention services for children who are deaf or hard of hearing significantly increase the likelihood of better language, speech, and social-emotional development. However, current research suggests that there is a critical shortage of professionals trained to provide early intervention services to deaf and…

The Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (Baby FACES) is a descriptive study of Early Head Start programs designed to inform policy and practice at both national and local levels. Baby FACES follows two cohorts of children through their time in Early Head Start, starting in 2009, the first wave of data collection. The Newborn…

A collaborative team of faculty from The University of Akron (UA) in Akron, Ohio, and Kent State University (KSU) in Kent, Ohio, were awarded a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a specialty area in the graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) programs of UA and KSU that would train a total of 32 SLP students (trainees)…

The paper describes a study on language interactions between young, newly verbal, language handicapped children and mothers. Components of a project are delineated and data from the original study are reported. Implications for using the approach combined with traditional speech therapy are discussed. (Author/CL)

The document contains the final report of the HIP (Hearing and Speech Agency Infant Parent) Project, a program which provided 19 communicatively handicapped children (0-5 years old) with a home-center based language program. Sections focus on the direct and supplementary services for children (including a description of the project population and…

Presented is a rationale for implementing early transdisciplinary intervention in behalf of blind and visually handicapped, mentally retarded infants. (Author/BD)

Describes a project which serves handicapped children, from birth to age 3, and their parents. The project includes home-based as well as classroom instruction. (SET)

Language development is the topic of three papers from the Macomb (Illinois) 0-3 Regional Project, a home based program for rural handicapped and high risk infants and toddlers. Cooperative efforts between the project and university speech and hearing services are described in the first paper. The second paper, addressed to parents, covers ways to…

This study hypothesized that mothers from a low socioeconomic area could be trained by teachers to implement an infant tutorial program using their 1- to 2-year-old children as subjects. The 20 mothers recruited were ADC recipients or met the OEO poverty definition. Mothers agreed to attend a 2 hour weekly class to learn teaching techniques to be…

This day care center, operated by Syracuse University and serving 100 children (birth to 3-year-old), admits only one child per family. The child must be the first or second child in a family where both parents have high school education or less and earn less than $5,000 per year. The program philosophy maintains that quality day care must carry…