Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2017 Oct;58(10):1122-1131. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12725. Epub 2017 Apr 21.
Early language skills are critical for later academic success. Lower socioeconomic status (SES) children tend to start school with limited language skills compared to advantaged peers. We test the hypothesis that this is due in part to differences in caregiver contingent talk during infancy (how often the caregiver talks about what is in the focus of the infant's attention).
In a randomised controlled trial with high and low SES families, 142 11-month olds and their caregivers were randomly allocated to either a contingent talk intervention or a dental health control. Families in the language intervention watched a video about contingent talk and were asked to practise it for 15 min a day for a month. Caregiver communication was assessed at baseline and after 1 month. Infant communication was assessed at baseline, 12, 15, 18 and 24 months.
At baseline, social gradients were observed in caregiver contingent talk to their 11-month olds (but not in infant communication). At posttest, when infants were 12 months old, caregivers across the SES spectrum who had been allocated to the language intervention group engaged in significantly more contingent talk. Lower SES caregivers in this intervention group also reported that their children produced significantly more words at 15 and 18 months. Effects of the intervention did not persist at 24 months. Instead expressive vocabulary at this age was best predicted by baseline infant communication, baseline contingent talk and SES.
A social gradient in children's communication emerges during the second year of life. A low-intensity intervention demonstrated that it is possible to increase caregiver contingent talk and that this is effective in promoting vocabulary growth for lower SES infants in the short term. However, these effects are not long-lasting, suggesting that follow-up interventions may be necessary to yield benefits lasting to school entry.
早期语言技能对后期学业成功至关重要。与优势同龄人相比，社会经济地位较低（SES）的儿童往往在入学时语言技能有限。我们验证了这样一个假设，即部分原因在于婴儿期照顾者伴随谈话（照顾者谈论婴儿注意力焦点的频率）存在差异。
在一项针对高 SES 和低 SES 家庭的随机对照试验中，142 名 11 个月大的婴儿及其照顾者被随机分配到伴随谈话干预组或口腔健康对照组。语言干预组的家庭观看了一段关于伴随谈话的视频，并被要求在一个月内每天练习 15 分钟。在基线和 1 个月后评估照顾者的沟通情况。在基线、12、15、18 和 24 个月时评估婴儿的沟通情况。
在基线时，观察到照顾者与 11 个月大婴儿的伴随谈话存在社会梯度（但婴儿的沟通不存在这种梯度）。在 12 个月时，即测试后，在 SES 范围内接受语言干预组的照顾者进行了明显更多的伴随谈话。在这个干预组中，社会经济地位较低的照顾者还报告说，他们的孩子在 15 个月和 18 个月时明显说出了更多的单词。干预的效果在 24 个月时并未持续。相反，这个年龄的表达性词汇量最佳预测因素是基线婴儿沟通、基线伴随谈话和 SES。
在生命的第二年，儿童的沟通出现了社会梯度。一项低强度的干预表明，增加照顾者的伴随谈话是可能的，并且这在短期内对促进 SES 较低的婴儿词汇增长是有效的。然而，这些效果并不持久，这表明可能需要后续干预措施才能产生持续到入学的益处。
