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This study examined Oregon's early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) pipelines as a function of children's intersecting ethnicity and home language(s) with a focus on children from Latino/a backgrounds with communication disorders. We found differences in children's referral source and age of referral, likelihood of evaluation and placement, and type of placement for conditions related to communication, including autism spectrum disorder and hearing impairment. Results showed differences in EI and ECSE; however, disproportionality appeared greatest among Spanish-speaking Latino/a children and non-Latino/a children who spoke languages other than English compared to non-Latino/a English-speaking counterparts. Our findings suggest that attending to children's intersecting ethnicity and language backgrounds in referral, evaluation, and placement add nuance to examinations of disproportionality. Results also indicate that practices related to characterizing children's communication disorders likely make substantial contributions to inequities in EI and ECSE. Precise identification of differences in service provision can lead to targeted policy and practice solutions to reduce structural barriers to care in EI/ECSE systems and improve equity, particularly as related to placement for children of color with communication concerns.

Purpose: This article aims to describe how exemplar variability can manipulate the word learning environment to maximize within- and cross-language generalization in Spanish--English bilinguals. Furthermore, we examined sources of individual variability that predicted word learning. Method: Nineteen Spanish--English bilingual children participated in a word learning task presenting words in both languages. Children learned words either in a high variability condition (in which multiple exemplars are introduced with the target word) or in a no variability condition (in which the same referent is used with the target word). Word learning was tracked over the course of the training, and retention was examined once the training was discontinued. Children's generalization of referents within and across languages was also examined. Results: The exemplar variability effect was observed in within-language generalization trials, whereas cross-language generalization was less robust. Nevertheless, cross-language associations emerged in examining the role of language proficiency, such that semantic skills in English predicted word retention across languages. Similarly, children's propensity to code-switch during language production was positively correlated with retention of words learned in the high variability condition. Conclusions: The findings show that Spanish--English bilingual children may make use of exemplar variability to support word learning in different ways compared with monolinguals. The exemplar variability effect interacts with children's acquired language skills and word learning abilities at the start of the intervention. This study provides preliminary evidence from which future research can develop word learning interventions that are responsive to the needs of multilinguals.

Purpose: Despite the increasing population of dual language learners (DLLs) in the United States, vocabulary measures for young DLLs have largely relied on instruments developed for monolinguals. The multistudy project reports on the psychometric properties of the English--Spanish Vocabulary Inventory (ESVI), which was designed to capture unique cross-language measures of lexical knowledge that are critical for assessing DLLs' vocabulary, including translation equivalents (whether the child knows the words for the same concept in each language), total vocabulary (the number of words known across both languages), and conceptual vocabulary (the number of words known that represent unique concepts in either language). Method: Three studies included 87 Spanish-English DLLs (M[subscript age] = 26.58 months, SD = 2.86 months) with and without language delay from two geographic regions. Multiple measures (e.g., caregiver report, observation, behavioral tasks, and standardized assessments) determined content validity, construct validity, social validity, and criterion validity of the ESVI. Results: Monolingual instruments used in bilingual contexts significantly undercounted lexical knowledge as measured on the ESVI. Scores on the ESVI were related to performance on other measures of communication, indicating acceptable content, construct, and criterion validity. Social validity ratings were similarly positive. ESVI scores were also associated with suspected language delay. Conclusions: These studies provide initial evidence of the adequacy of the ESVI for use in research and clinical contexts with young children learning English and Spanish (with or without a language delay). Developing tools such as the ESVI promotes culturally and linguistically responsive practices that support accurate assessment of DLLs' lexical development.

A retrospective review of initial early intervention and early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) evaluation reports was completed to identify practices specific to the evaluation of Latinx children's communication development. A records abstraction approach employed entailed a random selection of 294 EI/ECSE evaluation reports completed in Oregon with Latinx children with communication concerns. The reports were coded for documentation of background information, evaluation procedures, and eligibility decisions. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were completed to identify common evaluation practices. Adequate evaluation practices documented included the use of a multidisciplinary evaluation team, administration of multiple evaluation measures, and provision of basic information on children's language background. EI/ECSE providers did not consistently specify children's language exposure/use, denote the language of the evaluation, prioritize appropriate assessment measures, and indicate attention to cultural and linguistic differences when determining eligibility. Recommendations for decreasing bias in the evaluation of Latinx children and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) populations more broadly are offered.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were (a) to introduce "language access profiles" as a viable alternative construct to "communication mode" for describing experience with language input during early childhood for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children; (b) to describe the development of a new tool for measuring DHH children's language access profiles during infancy and toddlerhood; and (c) to evaluate the novelty, reliability, and validity of this tool. Method: We adapted an existing retrospective parent report measure of early language experience (the Language Exposure Assessment Tool) to make it suitable for use with DHH populations. We administered the adapted instrument (DHH Language Exposure Assessment Tool [D-LEAT]) to the caregivers of 105 DHH children aged 12 years and younger. To measure convergent validity, we also administered another novel instrument: the Language Access Profile Tool. To measure test-retest reliability, half of the participants were interviewed again after 1 month. We identified groups of children with similar language access profiles by using hierarchical cluster analysis. Results: The D-LEAT revealed DHH children's diverse experiences with access to language during infancy and toddlerhood. Cluster analysis groupings were markedly different from those derived from more traditional grouping rules (e.g., communication modes). Test-retest reliability was good, especially for the same-interviewer condition. Content, convergent, and face validity were strong. Conclusions: To optimize DHH children's developmental potential, stakeholders who work at the individual and population levels would benefit from replacing communication mode with language access profiles. The D-LEAT is the first tool that aims to measure this novel construct. Despite limitations that future work aims to address, the present results demonstrate that the D-LEAT represents progress over the status quo.

Purpose: This single-case study examines a complexity approach to target selection in grammatical intervention in three children with varying levels of mastery of tense and agreement. Specifically, we examine whether targeting a complex tense and agreement grammatical structure (auxiliary BE in questions) leads to generalization to other less complex and related tense and agreement markers (auxiliary BE in declaratives, copula BE, third-person singular --s, and past tense --ed). Method: Three children (all boys; aged 5;5-9;7 [years;months]) with deficits in morphosyntax were enrolled in a treatment program targeting a complex grammatical structure (auxiliary BE in questions) following collection of multiple baselines. Children's performance on the complex structure and related tense and agreement markers were tracked before, during, and after the intervention across three different tasks. Results: Results show that, despite its grammatical complexity, the target was elicited in all three children with incomplete mastery of the tense and agreement system. Furthermore, all children demonstrated generalization to expressive language by increasing their mean length of utterance by approximately one morpheme during spontaneous language production following intervention. All children demonstrated individual patterns of generalization to other tense and agreement structures not targeted during intervention. Conclusions: These functional changes observed following intervention set the stage for future controlled studies to establish a stronger cause-effect relation. Taken together, this study contributes to an emerging body of work showing that complex grammatical targets may be used in intervention earlier than previously thought.

The present case study describes a complexity approach to the treatment of tense and agreement deficits in a child (SC, age 3 years and 11 months, male) with a delay in morphosyntax. We investigate whether it is possible to elicit target treatment structures (auxiliary BE in questions) in a child who does not attempt them spontaneously. Furthermore, we ask whether such elicitation promotes accuracy in target form production and generalization to less complex forms as predicted by complexity accounts. Intervention consisted of a play-based drilled task eliciting the target structure. The intervention was effective in eliciting the intervention target, as SC demonstrated increased production of the target and decreased number of prompts required to elicit the target. SC made moderate gains in the spontaneous use of the proposed generalization structures. This preliminary case study demonstrates that a complexity approach may be feasible for treatment of morphosyntax and provides support for future treatment efficacy studies.

Although there is a body of work investigating code-switching (alternation between two languages in production) in the preschool period, it largely relies on case studies or very small samples. The current work seeks to extend extant research by exploring the development of code-switching longitudinally from 31 to 39 months of age in two distinct groups of bilingual children: Spanish–English children in San Diego and French–English children in Montréal. In two studies, consistent with previous research, children code-switched more often between than within utterances and code-switched more content than function words. Additionally, children code-switched more from Spanish or French to English than the reverse. Importantly, the factors driving the rate of code-switching differed across samples such that exposure was the most important predictor of code-switching in Spanish–English children whereas proficiency was the more important predictor in French–English children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Latinx communities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 compared with non-Latinx White communities in Oregon and much of the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic presents a critical and urgent need to reach Latinx communities with innovative, culturally tailored outreach and health promotion interventions to reduce viral transmission and address disparities. The aims of this case study are to (1) outline the collaborative development of a culturally and trauma-informed COVID-19 preventive intervention for Latinx communities; (2) describe essential intervention elements; and (3) summarize strengths and lessons learned for future applications., Methods: Between June 2020 and January 2021, a multidisciplinary team of researchers and Latinx-serving partners engaged in the following intervention development activities: a scientific literature review, a survey of 67 Latinx residents attending public testing events, interviews with 13 leaders of community-based organizations serving Latinx residents, and bi-weekly consultations with the project's Public Health and Community Services Team and a regional Community and Scientific Advisory Board. After launching the intervention in the field in February 2021, bi-weekly meetings with interventionists continuously informed minor iterative refinements through present day., Results: The resulting intervention, Promotores de Salud , includes outreach and brief health education. Bilingual, trauma-informed trainings and materials reflect the lived experiences, cultural values, needs, and concerns of Latinx communities. Interventionists (21 Promotores) were Latinx residents from nine Oregon counties where the intervention was delivered., Conclusions: Sharing development and intervention details with public health researchers and practitioners facilitates intervention uptake and replication to optimize the public health effect in Oregon's Latinx communities and beyond., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Budd, McWhirter, De Anda, Mauricio, Mueller, Cioffi, Nash, Van Brocklin, Yarris, Jackson, Terral, García, Juntos Podemos Community and Scientific Advisory Board, Cresko, DeGarmo and Leve.)