Elsevier

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Volume 21, Issue 5, September–October 2000, Pages 513-535
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Promoting Toddlers' Language Development Through Community-Based Intervention

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0193-3973(00)00052-6Get rights and content

Abstract

This study evaluated an adaptation of a developmentally based, 6-week parent–child reading program (“dialogic reading”) demonstrated to facilitate vocabulary and syntactic skills of toddlers, including those at risk for language problems. In this study, dialogic reading was modified for broad dissemination through four branches of a city library system. Children's librarians taught parents the reading techniques in two 1-hour sessions. The study design was an efficacy trial with two thirds of families randomly assigned to the dialogic reading condition n = 88 and one third to a comparison condition. The comparison condition was comprised of existing library services for parents and children n = 41. Analysis of baseline to post-test change showed a significant intervention-group effect on parent–child reading style and children's expressive language. In addition, at a 3-month follow-up assessment, parents in the dialogic reading group reported less parenting stress, specifically stress resulting from characteristics of their child.

Section snippets

Community Context

The setting of the study was Seattle, Washington. Compared with the state and nation as whole, Seattle's residents are on average well educated. More than 86% of adults more than 25 years of age have completed high school, and 38% have a 4-year college degree. Although many enjoy a comfortable income, at the time of this study, 16.5% of the children less than 6 years of age lived in poverty (City of Seattle, 1992). At the last decennial census, in 1990, there were more than 7000 births to city

Sociodemographics

Family sociodemographics and characteristics of the study children are presented in Table 2, Table 3. Similar to the city as a whole, most mothers (81%) were white. The largest minority group to participate in the study was of African American mothers (12%), the next largest was Asian (3%). Mothers' average age was 34 years. Most (88%) were living with a spouse or partner. It was not uncommon for households to include extended family and unrelated adults; 10% of households had three or more

Discussion

This study tested the usefulness of a simple and effective shared reading method that helps facilitate young children's language development. Dialogic reading, as modified here, led to favorable changes in parent–child reading style, in children's language use during reading, and as measured by a standardized test of expressive language skill. These findings encourage further dissemination and evaluation of the dialogic-reading method within other programs for parents and their “pre”

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted while the author was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Washington and was supported by grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Major support for this study was provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation through grants to Kathryn E. Barnard under whose mentorship this work was completed.

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