Tag Archives: Speech and Language Development

Helping children hear better

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10/27/2015

Hearing well impacts every area of a child’s life—language and speech development, social skills, and future academic and personal success.

Yet little research has been conducted that focuses on infants and preschoolers with mild to severe hearing loss to determine what support or services will help them succeed.

A large-scale longitudinal study, the first-of-its-kind in the nation, followed children ranging in age from 6 months to 7 years old who experienced mild to severe hearing loss.

The Outcomes of Children with Hearing Loss (OCHL) study, conducted by researchers at the University of Iowa, Boys Town National Research Hospital, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, examined the impact of early identification and intervention on children with hearing loss.

The study’s findings were published online Oct. 27  in a monographic supplement to the November/December issue of the journal Ear and Hearing, published by the American Auditory Society.

Source: Iowa Now

Available at: http://now.uiowa.edu/2015/10/helping-children-hear-better

Social Robots for Promoting Joint Attention

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2013

The project involved a series of studies using socially interactive robots for promoting children with disabilities social-emotional, joint attention, vocalization production, conversational turns, and language development. Socially interactive robots include either autonomous or remotely controlled machines or devices that are used to engage young children in child-robot interactions. The studies conducted as part of the socially interactive robots project involved children with autism spectrum disorder, Down Syndrome and other chromosomal conditions, and attention deficit and sensory processing disorders.

Source: Orlena Hawks Puckett Institute

Available at: http://socialrobots.org/index.php

Relationship Between Age of Onset and Frequency of Reading and Infants’ and Toddlers’ Early Language and Literacy Development

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2012

The effects of age and frequency of reading to infants and toddlers on their early literacy and language development was examined in a meta-analysis of 11 studies that included 4,020 participants. The average age of onset of adult reading to the infants and toddlers was 22 months. Variations in both age of onset and frequency of reading were related to varia- tions in the study outcomes and predicted differences in literacy and language development some 36 months after read- ing was first begun. Both the shortcomings and the implications of the findings for research and practice are described.

Source: Center for Early Literacy Learning

Available at: http://earlyliteracylearning.org/cellreviews/cellreviews_v5_n3.pdf

Effects of Reading to Infants and Toddlers on Their Early Language Development

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2012

The effects of reading to infants and toddlers were examined in a meta-analysis of six intervention studies including 408 participants. Results indicated that interventions were effective in promoting the children’s expressive and recep- tive language. The benefits of the interventions increased the earlier the interventions were started and the longer they were implemented. Implications of the findings for research and practice are described.

Source: Center for Early Literacy Learning

Available at: http://earlyliteracylearning.org/cellreviews/cellreviews_v5_n4.pdf

Niños que aprenden en dos idiomas: Cómo recopilar los antecedentes Experiencias y raíces lingüísticas del niño y de la familia

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Para poder apoyar el aprendizaje y desarrollo de los niños que aprenden en dos idiomas (los niños DLL, por sus siglas en inglés), el personal de la primera infancia debe entender los antecedentes de los niños y las experiencias que han vivido en más de un idioma. El personal debe recopilar datos de los padres
y de la familia de cada niño. Al juntar suficiente información para obtener un cuadro completo de las raíces lingüísticas globales del niño, los profesionales pueden “armar las piezas del rompecabezas” de los idiomas que habla el niño, y utilizar esta información en la planificación del currículo, su personalización y al apoyar el progreso continuo del niño.

Source: Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center

Available at: http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/cultural-linguistic/docs/ESP-508%20assess-dll-young-spanish.pdf

Estrategias para apoyar a todos los niños que aprenden en dos idiomas

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  • Crear un ambiente acogedor en el salón de clase, el cual refleje los antecedentes de los niños. Tenga presentes imágenes, afiches, juguetes y libros que demuestren los diversos idiomas y las culturas de los niños de una forma auténtica y respetuosa.
  • Pedir que las familias compartan continuamente información acerca de los intereses de sus hijos y haga uso de esa información en las actividades del salón y de currículo.
  • Proporcionar oportunidades para las familias y los miembros de la comunidad a compartir en su lenguaje nativo historias e información con los maestros, el personal y los niños.
  • Llevar a cabo la política de lenguaje de su programa, para apoyar en los niños el desarrollo continuo del lenguaje del hogar y para facilitar el aprendizaje del inglés.
  • Proporcionar oportunidades a los maestros y al personal para que adquieran conocimientos acerca del desarrollo del primer y segundo idioma, así como de las prácticas que responden a las necesidades culturales y lingüísticas de los niños.
  • Recordarse que los niños que aprenden en dos idiomas son individuos particulares; no hay una sola estrategia que funcione para todos los casos. Para personalizar los servicios, ponga en práctica en el salón de clase la información que recopile de las familias y de sus observaciones de los niños. Se debe utilizar las estrategias a largo plazo y de acuerdo con la política de lenguaje que tiene el programa.

Source: Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center

Available at: http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/cultural-linguistic/docs/01-19-12%20dll-stra-sp.pdf

Children with untreated speech problems ‘do poorly at school’

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11/16/11

Children with speech difficulties that are not addressed before they start school face a higher risk of being bullied and falling behind in learning by early primary school, a new study shows.

The study, based on tracking thousands of children, has prompted a call for speech impairment in early childhood to be taken as seriously as problems such as hearing loss, asthma and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Source: The Age

Available at: http://www.theage.com.au/national/children-with-untreated-speech-problems-do-poorly-at-school-20111115-1nhfu.html

Preschoolers’ classmates influence their language skills

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10/26/11

How well children do academically is tied to how well their classmates do, past studies have found, and the issue of “peer effects” plays out in classrooms across the United States through such practices as tracking. Now a new longitudinal study on children’s language development has found that peer effects exist in preschool classrooms — a level of schooling where there’s not been a lot of examination of peer influences — and raises questions about whether tracking, which is customary in public preschool programs, is a sound approach. The study also found that peer effects may be stronger for some children than for others. The study was carried out by researchers at the Ohio State University, Florida State University, and the University of Virginia. It appears in the journal Child Development.

Source: e! Science News

Available at: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/10/26/preschoolers.classmates.influence.their.language.skills

Q: I am concerned because my 3-year-old son, who until recently had great language skills and talked really clearly, has started to stutter. How should I handle this?

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It can be confusing and worrisome to parents when they hear their child begin to stutter, especially when he or she had previously been speaking very clearly and smoothly. But in fact, stuttering is not uncommon between the ages of 2 and 5 as children learn to put sounds and words together to form thoughts and phrases. Toddlers have so much to say that it is sometimes difficult to get it all out! According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/stutter.asp), developmental stuttering may occur when a toddler’s desire to speak exceeds her speech and language abilities. When this happens, toddlers may begin to stutter until their spoken language skills have caught up.

Source: ZERO TO THREE

Available at: http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/early-development/qa/i-am-concerned-because-my.html

Autism Spectrum Disorders Part II: Understanding and Comparing Research-Based Practices | CEC

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The second webinar in the series will provide practitioners who work with students with autism spectrum disorders at all age levels with in-depth, practical, descriptive, and comparative information on several of the most popular research-based interventions and approaches, including Applied Behavior Analysis, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS); Social Stories; and Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication-Related Handicapped Children (TEACCH). The research base and demonstrated efficacy area of each approach will be discussed. The information presented will enable teachers, administrators, and parents to differentiate between effective interventions and those without an evidence base.

Participants will be able to:

  • Describe the research-based practices available for teaching students with autism spectrum disorders.
  • Differentiate the areas of improvement that each practice can yield.
  • Select the practices suitable for particular students or groups of students.
  • Find sources of more detailed information and training in each of the practices discussed.

Source: Council for Exceptional Children

Available at: http://www.cec.sped.org/scriptcontent/custom/events/webinar_detail.cfm?webinar=web1112&utm_source=eBlast&utm_medium=webinar&utm_campaign=autism2fall2011