The purpose of the proposed research is to evaluate the Thirty Million Words (TMW) Intervention through a randomized, controlled pilot study. The primary goal of the intervention is to enrich the early language learning environment of children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds by targeting parent skills that relate to adult word input and conversational turn taking. The investigators hypothesize that receiving the TMW intervention will result in changes in parent behaviors.
The investigators propose to administer the TMW intervention to a small group of parents from low SES backgrounds in the Chicago area, assessing outcomes for caregivers at specific time intervals after administration. An audio environment recording device, the Language ENvironment Analysis recorder (LENA), will be used to gather information about the child's home language environment. The treatment group will receive feedback from some of these home audio recordings to motivate behavior change. A comparison between measurements from baseline recordings (without linguistic feedback given) and recordings during the intervention program (with linguistic feedback given) will be used to evaluate changes in caregiver linguistic behavior. In addition to the report information, parents will also be provided with strategies for enriching the child's language environment, including advice on book reading and narration. A control arm will receive a brief nutrition intervention and complete the same number of recordings as the treatment group. The control group will complete the same assessment schedule as the treatment group. Assessment data will aid in evaluating the effects of the TMW intervention. This pilot work is a critical step in understanding the language environment provided by parents of low-SES, the effectiveness of objective feedback, and the potential for change and improvement in parental behavior. After establishing a baseline of parent-child communication levels, LENA recordings will be performed at regular intervals to provide essential feedback and motivation for parents to continually optimize the language environment they provide for their children.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
40
LENA feedback reports show hourly/daily estimates for AWC/CTC and TV/electronic media. The feedback reports will include data obtained from LENA home audio recordings that the families complete. Feedback reports are only given to parents for 8 weekly recordings. The parent does not receive a feedback report for the baseline recordings or the follow-up recordings.
A research assistant visited the homes of the participants to discuss strategies, skills, and barriers related to enriching children's language environments. The visits included a multi-media educational module, video modeling exercise, goal setting, and linguistic feedback report review. There were 8 weekly home visits in the intervention program.
The University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Parental Behavior Change - Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA): Quantitative Behavior Change (16 LENA recordings)
The LENA provides data for the following categories of adult behaviors: Adult Word Count (AWC), Conversational Turn Count (CTC), and Television Time (TVT).
Time frame: Baseline (3 Recordings), 1 per week for 8 weeks (8 recordings), Week 14, Week 18, Week 22
Child Behavior Change - LENA: Quantitative Linguistic Change (16 recordings)
LENA system provides information on Child Vocalization Count (CVC) and Conversational Turn Count (CTC) in the home environment.
Time frame: Baseline (3 weeks pre-intervention), 1 per week for 8 weeks (8 recordings), Week 14, Week 18, Week 22
STAR Reading
Computerized assessment of parent reading level.
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention
Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Screen, short form (CESD-10)
Validated brief depression screen for parent. Appropriate referrals were made for parents who received a score above the CESD-10 cut score and who experienced suicidal ideation or self harm.
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention program
Parent Behavior Checklist (PBC)
Validated assessment concerning different types of parenting 'style'
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention; 1 week post-intervention, 4-months post-intervention
Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence (WASI)
Parent IQ
Time frame: Approximately 3 week pre-intervention; 1 week post-intervention; 4 months post-intervention
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The childhood nutrition education intervention is a brief home-visiting intervention during which parents receive information on nutrition from a research assistant. The intervention mirrored the experimental group's educational intervention and decreased the likelihood of differences between groups being the result of attentional effects. This intervention is received by the control group.
Child Receptive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test (ROWPVT)
Interactive assessment of child's receptive vocabulary
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention; 1 week post-intervention; 4 months post-intervention
Child MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory Short Form (CDI)
Parent self-report of child expressive vocabulary.
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention program; 1 week post-intervention; 4 months post-intervention
Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)
Parent reported assessment of child problematic behaviors.
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention; 1 week post-intervention; 4 months post-intervention
Bayley Child Development Screener
Short screener to assess child's level of development for five categories: cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, expressive, and receptive vocabulary.
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention
TMW Questionnaire
Novel questionnaire developed for use in the study. Assessed parent level of knowledge concerning child language development.
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention; 1 week post-intervention; 4 months post-intervention
Parental Behavior Change - LENA and Video: Qualitative Changes
LENA transcription:Mean length utterance (MLU), type/token, syntactical complexity, gesture. Video: gesture, "responsive parenting" behaviors (e.g. being on child's level)
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention; 1 week post-intervention; 4 months post-intervention
Child Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT)
Interactive assessment that evaluates child's expressive vocabulary.
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention; 1 week post-intervention; 4 months post-intervention
Parent Working Memory Test (Sym-Span)
Computer administered assessment of parent working memory.
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention
Knowledge of Infant Development Index (KIDI)
Questionnaire assessing parent knowledge of infant development
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention
Theories of Intelligence (TOI)
6 item questionnaire regarding incremental and entity theories of intelligence
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention; 1 week post-intervention; 4 months post-intervention
Parent Stress Index (PSI) short form
Parent self-report assessment of stress levels related to parenting
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention; 1 week post-intervention; 4 months post-intervention
Models of Developing Language
Parent self report evaluating parent's beliefs about language acquisition.
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention; 1 week post-intervention; 4 months post-intervention
Demographics
Questionnaire about family background information and the child's developmental history
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention; 1 week post-intervention; 4 months post-intervention
LENA Developmental Snapshot
Parent report of child's language development level
Time frame: Approximately 3 weeks pre-intervention program; 1 week post-intervention program; 4 months post-intervention program