|
|
Children who receive lower quality and quantity of language input early in life have reduced language and academic abilities. The purpose of the current study was to investigate how an app-based intervention designed to help parents increase the quantity and quality of language input to their child affects child vocabulary scores. 27 parents with children 18-30 months enrolled and used one of two versions of a mobile app daily for 6 weeks. On average, children improved 7.8 percentile points on the Words Produced score of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories, outpacing typical vocabulary development, t(24)=2.46, p=.022. Vocabulary improvement was not related to family SES (income:needs ratio) (r=-.07, p=.75). Future planned analyses include a comparison of two app versions (quantity of input vs. quantity + quality of input) as well as a control group of children who received no intervention. These results are an initial step toward determining whether a parent-implemented, app-based invention is effective in improving child expressive vocabulary skills, regardless of family income. This project was funded by the Northwestern University Delaney Fund for Research in Communication. |
|