SRCLD Presentation Details
  Title  
       
    Embedding Interventions in Complex Host Environments: Homes and Classrooms  
Author(s)
Laura Justice - Ohio State University

SRCLD Info
SRCLD Year: 2010
Presentation Type: Invited Speaker
Presentation Time: (na)
Abstract
The use of randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) is increasingly commonplace within the early childhood language (and literacy) intervention literature. When the goal of these studies is to examine intervention impacts in relatively business-as-usual settings, as is often the case in effectiveness research, these RCTs may be embedded within complex host environments. To truly understand not only whether interventions “work” but also the conditions under which they bring about change in important outcomes, we must attend to features of these host environments and their interplay with characteristics of children (e.g., attention, temperament) and the interventions themselves (e.g., intensity, quality of implementation). This session describes the use of RCTs to assess whether interventions “work” but then explores features of homes and classrooms that deserve attention in these RCTs because of their potential interplay with child and intervention characteristics. The presenter draws from her use of RCTs to test the causal effects of various approaches to early literacy and language interventions that are embedded in the complex environments of children’s homes and classrooms. (Research support provided by Institute of Education Sciences, R305J030084, R305G050005 and R305G050006, and National Institutes of Health: DC04933-01A2).
Author Biosketch(es)

Laura Justice, Ph.D., is a clinical speech-language pathologist and applied researcher in early childhood language and literacy development, communication disorders, and educational interventions at The Ohio State University. Her current interests primarily concern multi-level influences on language and literacy development in high-risk populations, to include both malleable factors (e.g., quality of instruction in preschool classrooms) and non-malleable factors (e.g., children’s temperament). Dr. Justice is Professor in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University, where she also directs the Preschool Language and Literacy Lab, a research unit within the School of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Justice’s research activities have been supported by grants from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation, the International Reading Association, the National Institutes of Health, and the U. S. Department of Education. Her research on early language and literacy has received awards from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (Editor’s Award, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology), the Council for Exceptional Children (Early Career Publication Award), and the U.S. President (Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering). She has published more than 100 articles, chapters, and reports concerning early education and language/literacy intervention and has authored or edited ten books, including Language Development from Theory to Practice; Communication Disorders: A Contemporary Perspective; and Scaffolding with Storybooks. Justice was the Founding Editor of EBP Briefs, published by Pearson, and is currently the Editor of the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.