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'…

Purpose: This experiment investigated the effects of a book-sharing intervention implemented in coparenting homes on the conversations of preschoolers with their parents. Method: A multiple baseline design across behaviors was used to evaluate the effects of embedding decontextualized language utterances during book-sharing delivered by four…

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…

Purpose: This article describes the iterative development of a home review program designed to augment vocabulary instruction for young children (ages 4 and 5 years) occurring at school through the use of a home review component. Method: A pilot study followed by two experiments used adapted alternating treatment designs to compare the learning of…

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)…

How do responsive adult-child interactions influence early language development? How do a child's language skills develop in tandem with social-emotional development, executive function, and literacy? What are effective ways to help parents support their child's development? Uncover the answers to these questions in this fascinating book, which…

This article discusses the importance of family practices to children's acquisition of literacy and describes attempts to influence such practices through the institution of family literacy programmes. One of these is the Family Literacy Project in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, which both served as a model and provided material for a similar…

The founder of BRIDGES, a program to connect deaf culture and hearing culture, describes her experiences as a hearing woman learning and teaching about the deaf community. She particularly addresses the ways in which the deaf community and culture are ignored by education and health professionals. (SK)

This discussion proposed to describe components of training and roles parents can assume in a language development program and to describe a model program in which parents assumed a major role in their language-handicapped child's rehabilitation. (Author/RK)

To demonstrate that a pediatric clinic provides a natural framework for an educational program involving parents as the primary teachers of young children, a parent education program was incorporated into the playroom program of the Mount Sinai Hospital Pediatric Clinic in New York City. (Author/CS)

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)

This document describes the Mother-Child Home Program (MCHP) for prevention of educational disadvantage, prepared by the Verbal Interaction Project. The MCHP consisted of 92 semi-weekly, half hour home sessions spread over two years by interviewers called "Toy Demonstrators". The latter were trained in non-didactic techniques to show a…

This paper provides a description and evaluation of the Mother-Child Program (developed by the Verbal Interaction Project) for prevention of educational disadvantage. The program consists of 46 semi-weekly home visits by "Toy Demonstrators" in each of two seven month program years, following the local school calendar. Toy Demonstrators…

Describes a parent education program in a rural Pennsylvania school district that uses a learning packet that contains (1) information about child development; (2) ideas for fostering child development, especially in language; and (3) suggestions for parenting. (BB)