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The impact of a shared-reading program on the narrative skills of children from low-income families was examined. Participants in the study were 4-year-old children (N=123) enrolled in Head Start. Fifty-eight percent of the sample participated in a 30-week shared-reading intervention conducted in Head Start classrooms and homes. The remainder of the sample experienced the regular Head Start curriculum. The shared-reading intervention was found to have a significant effect on children's inclusion of evaluative devices in their narratives. Specifically, children who participated in the intervention program were significantly more likely to include references to internal states of characters and dialogue in their narratives at the end of the Head Start year than children who did not participate in the intervention program. This study adds to the growing experimental literature demonstrating that preschool literacy interventions can have a positive impact on the language skills of children from low-income families.

This study examined code-related and oral language precursors to reading in a longitudinal study of 626 children from preschool through 4th grade. Code-related precursors, including print concepts and phonological awareness, and oral language were assessed in preschool and kindergarten. Reading accuracy and reading comprehension skills were examined in 1st through 4th grades. Results demonstrated that (a) the relationship between code-related precursors and oral language is strong during preschool; (b) there is a high degree of continuity over time of both code-related and oral language abilities; (c) during early elementary school, reading ability is predominantly determined by the level of print knowledge and phonological awareness a child brings from kindergarten; and (d) in later elementary school, reading accuracy and reading comprehension appear to be 2 separate abilities that are influenced by different sets of skills.

This study examined the effects of age and schooling on emergent literacy and early reading skills of 337 children from low-income backgrounds. Children were followed longitudinally from the end of Head Start to the end of 1st grade. A subset of the sample (n = 183) was followed through the end of 2nd grade. The oldest children in preschool and kindergarten had significantly stronger emergent literacy skills than classmates who were younger by 10 months. These differences did not translate to differences in reading skill at the end of 1st or 2nd grade. Children who began school a year earlier than same-age peers outperformed these peers on measures of both emergent literacy skills and early reading skills. The impact of a year of schooling on emergent literacy skills was 1.7 times greater than the impact of other processes associated with age. The impact of a year of schooling on early reading was 4.3 times stronger than the effect of age.

The present investigation is a replication of an emergent literacy intervention in Head Start with a new cohort of children and includes a follow-up of both the original cohort and the replication cohort through the end of 2nd grade. Positive effects at the end of Head Start obtained in the original study were replicated, and effects on emergent literacy skills in both cohorts were maintained through the end of kindergarten. Effects of the emergent literacy intervention did not generalize to literacy outcomes at the end of 1st and 2nd grades. Growth in emergent literacy skills and literacy skills from year to year was strongly influenced by variation in the Head Start centers and school districts attended by children in the sample. Although children in the sample began formal reading instruction with relatively low levels of emergent literacy skills, they showed substantial gains with respect to national norms by the end of 2nd grade.

The effects of an interactive shared-reading intervention were evaluated with 3-to 4-year-old children from low-income families who attended subsidized child care. The children entered the program with oral language skills that were significantly below age-level as measured by standardized tests. Children were pretested and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: (a) no treatment control, (b) a school condition in which children were read to by their teachers in small groups, (c) a home condition in which children were read to by their parents, and (d) a combined school plus home condition. Parents and teachers were trained in a specific form of interactive reading via an instructional videotape. The intervention was conducted for 6 weeks, after which children were posttested on standardized measures of oral language, and language samples were obtained during a shared-reading assessment. Significant effects of the reading intervention were obtained at posttest and were largest for children in conditions involving home reading.

This study examined how preschool inattention-hyperactivity is related to elementary school reading achievement. Prereading skills were hypothesized to be a link between them. This link was explored using longitudinal data on 105 low-socioeconomic-status (SES) children's inattentive-hyperactive behavior and prereading skills in Head Start and in kindergarten and their inattentive-hyperactive behavior and reading skills in first grade. A model of this relationship was tested using structural equation modeling. The results failed to show a significant path between inattention-hyperactivity and prereading skills at both the Head Star and kindergarten levels. A significant path was found between first grade inattention-hyperactivity and reading skills, confirming that the strong relationship between inattention-hyperactivity and poor reading achievement commonly found in children from other SES levels was also significant in this low-SES sample. Strong relationships were found between prereading skills and reading skills, as well as among hyperactivity levels at the three grades. The issue of the direction of the path of influence between attention-behavior and reading achievement is addressed briefly; however, the results indicate that further longitudinal work is necessary to resolve this issue.

Classrooms of 4-year-olds attending Head Start were randomly assigned to an intervention condition, involving an add-on emergent literacy curriculum, or a control condition, involving the regular Head Start curriculum. Children in the intervention condition experienced interactive book reading at home and in the classroom as well as a classroom-based sound and letter awareness program. Children were pretested and posttested on standardized tests of language, writing, linguistic awareness, and print concepts

The effects of an interactive book reading program were assessed with children from low-income families who attended subsidized day-care centers in New York. The children entered the program with language development in standard English vocabulary and expression that was about 10 months behind chronological age on standardized tests. Children were pretested and assigned randomly within classrooms to 1 of 3 conditions: (a) a school plus home condition in which the children were read to by their teachers and their parents, (b) a school condition in which children were read to only by teachers, and (c) a control condition in which children engaged in play activities under the supervision of their teachers. Training of adult readers was based on a self-instructional video

G. J. Whitehurst et al. (1988) taught mothers specific interactive techniques to use when reading picture books with their preschool-age children. This intervention program, called dialogic reading, produced substantial effects on preschool children's language development. However, the costs of one-on-one training limit the widespread use of dialogic reading techniques. In this study the authors aimed to replicate and extend the results of the original study of dialogic reading by developing and evaluating an inexpensive videotape training package for teaching dialogic reading techniques. Mothers were randomly assigned to receive no training, traditional direct training, or videotape training

The relations between home literacy environment and child language ability were examined for 323 4-year-olds attending Head Start and their mothers or primary caregivers. Overall frequency of shared picture book reading, age of onset of picture book reading, duration of shared picture book reading during one recent day, number of picture books in the home, frequency of child's requests to engage in shared picture book reading, frequency of child's private play with books, frequency of shared trips to the library, frequency of caregiver's private reading, and caregiver's enjoyment of private reading constituted the literacy environment, and were measured using a questionnaire completed by each child's primary caregiver. Using a primary subsample of 236 children, a composite literacy environment score was derived from the literacy environment measures and was correlated with a composite child language measure, derived from two standardized tests of language skills. Depending on the form of regression analysis employed and depending on whether primary caregiver IQ and education were entered into the prediction equations, from 12% to 18.5% of the variance in child language scores was accounted for by home literacy environment. These analyses were cross-validated on a secondary subsample of 87 children with similar results. The strength of the relations between home literacy environment and child language are stronger in this study than in previous research, due to the use of statistically derived aggregate measures of literacy environment. The presence of substantial variability in home literacy environments in low-income families, and the substantial relations between these environments and child language outcomes has important implications for intervention.

Previous research demonstrates linguistic advances in middle-class 2-year-olds in the United States resulting from training parents to read with their children following a particular style. This style, called dialogic reading, encourages children to talk about picture books and gives them models and feedback for progressively more sophisticated language use. This research extends these procedures to a day-care setting using 20 Mexican 2-year-olds from low-income backgrounds. Children in the intervention group were read to individually by a teacher using dialogic reading techniques. The control group children were given individual arts and crafts instruction by the same teacher

The role of otitis media (OM) was investigated in a group of preschool children with a rigorously defined language impairment: developmental expressive language disorder (ELD)

Familial aggregation of language deficits has been demonstrated in previous studies. However, researchers have typically failed to differentiate subgroups of language-impaired children. The present study used questionnaire data to assess the family history of speech, language, and school problems in a group of young children with developmental expressive language delay (ELD) and in a sample of normally developing children. In contrast to previous studies of language and speech problems, no strong familial component of ELD was found. Further, family history was not predictive of later language development in ELD children. These findings argue against genetic and familial causes of ELD and attest to the importance of differentiating subtypes of early language problems.

A natural language sample of babble and words was obtained for 37 two-year-olds with severe specific expressive language delay. Variables derived from this sample were used to predict individual differences in expressive language scores 5 months later. The rate of word use was positively related to language outcome, whereas rate of vowel babble was negatively related to outcome. Together, these two variables accounted for 41% of the variance in language outcome test scores. The addition of one nonlinguistic variable, a measure of behavior problems, allowed the prediction equation to account for over 50% of the variance in expressive language outcome. The single strongest correlate of language outcome was the proportion of consonantal to vowel babble. The degree of social responsiveness of babble and the length of babble were not related to later language scores. These findings indicate that for children with specific expressive language delay, vowel babble competes with expressive language, consonantal babble facilitates expressive language, and the length and social responsiveness of babble are independent of expressive language. The continuity between babble and speech is multidimensional and multidirectional.

Early developmental language delay is characterized by slow development of language in preschoolers. The condition is frequent amoung tow-and three-year-olds, causes concern among parents, and generates differences of opinion as to significance among informed professionals. Poorer long-term outcomes are much more likely if language delay persists until the later preschool year, and if the dealy is not specific to language and/or includes problems in understanding. Specific language delay in the preschool period is better characterized as a risk factor than disorder, most children with specific language delay recover to the normal range by five years of age.

The authors of this chapter propose and test a model of individual differences in the development of emergent literacy. The model provides a means for evaluating the contribution of various aspects of the home environment to children's emerging literacy skills and helps to clarify the processes by which family environment and different domains of emergent literacy are related.

The association of behavior problems with preschool language disorders has been documented extensively. However, researchers have typically failed to differentiate subgroups of language-impaired children, to use observational data in documenting the behavior disorders, or to study children at the youngest ages. Using a multimodal assessment, this study examined parent-child interaction and behavior problems in a clearly defined subgroup of language-impaired children, those with developmental expressive language disorder (ELD). These children exhibit a delay in expressive language compared with receptive language and nonverbal cognitive skills. Subjects were identified and studied at the youngest age at which the disorder can be assessed. A group of ELD children, averaging 27 months of age, was contrasted with a group of normally developing children, matched for age, sex, and receptive language ability. Groups were compared on observed parent-child interactions as well as maternal responses on the Parenting Stress Index, the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory, and a behavior-related structured interview. ELD children, when compared with normally developing children, exhibited higher levels of negative behavior and were perceived as different by their parents.

Developmental expressive language disorder is a frequently occurring condition in children, characterized by severe delay in the development of expressive language compared with receptive language and cognitive skills. Opinions differ regarding whether expressive language delay is a disorder worthy of active intervention or an indication of normal variation in the onset of expressive language. The purpose of this research was to follow for 5 months 26 2-year-old children in whom expressive language disorder had been carefully diagnosed to discover the rate of improvement and its predictors. Improvement was variable, with approximately one third of the children showing no improvement, one third showing mild improvement, and one third in the normal range at posttest. Nearly two thirds of the variance in improvement could be accounted for by three child variables measured by the pretest: parentally reported vocabulary size, parentally reported problems with having regular meals, and observed frequency of quiet activity not requiring the parent's management. A screening procedure involving only one of those variables, reported vocabulary size, was 81% accurate in identifying children's improvement status. The implications of these results for the management of children with expressive language disorder are discussed.

Five experiments were conducted on what 6-year-old children learn about communication by switching listener and speaker roles with competent and incompetent adults and peers. Experiment I demonstrated that children become better communicators to adults after listening to competent adults, competent peers, and incompetent peers, but not incompetent adults. The age of the listener was shown to have an effect in Experiment II, with children becoming less effective communicators when speaking to a peer after listening to an incompetent peer but better communicators when speaking to an adult after listening to an incompetent peer. Experiments III, IV, and V were designed to determine why children do not improve or deteriorate after listening to incompetent adults. It is not deficient memory: Children remember well the ambiguous messages of adults (Experiment IV). It is not implicit demands to be polite to an adult (Experiment III). It is that children think the ambiguous messages of an adult are competent (Experiment V). Mixing the authority and prestige of an adult with incompetent messages leads the child to ignore the adult's behavior as a standard for his or her own performance. These results suggest that social learning of communication skills might occur best when the child can learn what not to do by interacting with peers and what to do when interacting with adults.

Six 4- to 5-yr-old subjects were exposed to five sessions in which an adult model used passive sentences to describe a set of modeling stimuli. Probe stimuli, which the subjects were asked to describe without benefit of modeling and without selective reinforcement were interspersed among modeling stimuli. A matched group of control subjects received probletrials but no modeling trials. Both groups of subjects were subsequently tested on their ability to comprehend active and passive sentence forms. Every subject in the experimental group produced passive sentences on probe trials even though there was considerable variability in the number of passives produced. No control subject produced passives. The modeling procedure increased the comprehension scores of the experimental group above those of the control group though the scores of both groups were above chance. The results were contrasted with earlier studies in which modeling was ineffective in producing passive usage and in which comprehension of the passive was not demonstrated by even older children.

The role of comprehension training in the selective imitation of indirect-direct object sentences was assessed for six preschool children. A modeling condition resulted in normal usage of indirect-direct object sentences for five of six subjects, but reversed usage was not obtained when modeling was reversed. Subsequent receptive comprehension training on normal and reversed forms of indirect-direct object sentences resulted in generalization to the productive mode. These results were related to an hypothesis about language acquisition in which selective imitation is a function of comprehension.

The level of imitative behavior displayed by four preschool children was assessed during experimenter presence, experimenter absence, and under a differential reinforcement condition where only two of four responses were reinforced. Imitations were frequently performed during experimenter presence but were seldom observed when the experimenter was absent. Three of the four subjects imitated differentially under the reinforcement condition. However, the presence of the experimenter served to abolish this performance in two subjects. An attempt to add to the complexity of the stimulus situation by increasing the number and type of behaviors demonstrated to these two subjects, was not successful in maintaining nonreinforced imitations. The study indicates the need for a more precise definition of “generalized imitation” and emphasizes the importance of antecedent and setting conditions as factors in the multiple control of imitation.

In a two-choice paired-presentation discrimination task, 120 children at two age levels were either reinforced for correct responses, punished for incorrect responses, or rewarded for correct responses and punished for incorrect responses at either of two levels of task complexity. Reinforcement and punishment were nonverbal and were accomplished by either presenting or removing tokens. Task complexity was varied in terms of the number of irrelevant stimulus dimensions to which a response could be made. Highly significant treatment effects favored the combination of reinforcement and punishment, with no difference appearing between the reinforcement group and the punishment group. This relationship was constant across both age and task complexity, with no significant interactions occurring.

This research attempted to demonstrate some of the conditions that would influence the performance of generalized imitative behaviors in young children. Two experiments were conducted. The results of Exp. I indicated that generalized imitative behaviors can be very durable; only one of three subjects was influenced by a variety of reinforcement-like procedures. Control over the behavior of all three subjects was obtained when a setting event involving the presence or absence of the experimenter was systematically varied. A second test of this variable was carried out in Exp. II. Results showed moderate to strong control over non-reinforced imitations in four preschool children.

WHITEHURST, GROVER J. The Development of Communication: Changes with Age and Modeling. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 473-482. 2 studies were conducted with a task allowing detailed examination of how information in stimulus arrays is captured in children's descriptions. Rather than conforming to a principle of minimal redundancy, communications become increasingly redundant over the early school years. Short messages, a minority at all ages, are based on a contrastive analysis of the referential field in older children. However, short descriptions by preschool and grade 1 children are often based on "randomly" selected attributes of a referent and, therefore, are incomplete and noninformative. The normative performance at the grade 1 level was compared with that of children given preliminary experience of listening and responding to the incomplete versus contrastive communication of an adult. Children imitate the communciation style of an adult without regard to its effects on their ability to respond correctly as a speaker. The implications for a role-playing analysis of communication development were discussed. Though children imitate aspects of a model's communication style, their methods of analysis of stimulus arrays are idiosyncratic, largely determined by a principle of least effort.

Specific expressive language delay (ELD) is a developmental disorder characterized by substantial delay in expressive language, with age-appropriate cognitive and receptive language skill. Opinions differ widely on the clinical significance of ELD and whether it warrants intervention. Although negative sequelae in school achievement and mental health are noted in language disordered populations, there are no prospective longitudinal studies of 2 to 3 year old ELD children. The present study followed the language growth of a carefully defined sample of ELD children over the period just after diagnosis. Standardized assessments of IQ and expressive and receptive language were completed at initial visit and again four months later. Results indicate that the early developmental course of ELD is highly variable; some children show moderate progress, some full recovery and some little change in expressive language skill. Comparison was made between degree of improvement in this sample and that of a group of ELD children in a home-based treatment program. The correlates that emerge from the study allow for better informed treatment decisions and highlight the relevance of longitudinal analysis of ELD.

Expressive language delay (ELD) is a developmental disorder characterized by substantial delay in expressive language compared with receptive language and IQ. Prior study of the problem yields a prevalence estimate of 3% of preschool children and substantial negative sequelae in school performance and psychological health. This paper focuses on the initial 4 children (X age =2.5 yrs) in a longitudinal study of the etiology and treatment of ELD. Each child had normal receptive and nonverbal intellectual skills for age but extremely retarded expressive skills (< 20 words). Each child was studied for a 3 to 4 month treatment in which a baseline period of home observation was followed by 7 assignments given to parents in biweekly sessions and administered by the parents at home. Treatment progress was monitored by novel and powerful analyses of child-parent verbal interactions based on computer analysis of home tape-recordings. Findings included development of age appropriate expressive function within 3 months for all subjects (expressive vocabulary X IQ = 95.2), and highly significant prepost differences. Time-series analyses demonstrated that improvement was caused by treatment procedures. Baseline verbal interaction analyses revealed high use of inefficient strategies to elicit child language which were markedly reduced by treatment instructions. ELD is therefore treatable and substantially remediable using a short parent-based therapy program.

The effects on vocabulary acquisition of child-initiated versus adult-initiated instances of adult labeling were studied. 16 monolingual, English-speaking preschool children were exposed to a Spanish-speaking adult. In order to have access to toys placed out of their reach, children had to request the toys in Spanish. For the experimental group, adult labeling occurred when the children expressed interest in the toy. Control group children were yoked temporally to experimental group children for the purpose of adult labeling. Thus, adult labeling for the control group was randomly related to the children's expressions of interest. Although both groups of children learned some Spanish words, children in the experimental group produced significantly more Spanish words during the training sessions and showed superior performance on posttraining tests of Spanish production. Levels of comprehension of the Spanish words were equivalent for both groups. Results are interpreted in the context of the literature on "incidental teaching" and are viewed as demonstrating the critical role in language acquisition of the timing of exposure to language models.