Effects of quantitative linguistic feedback to caregivers of young children: A pilot study in China
Zhang, Xu, Jiang, Gilkerson, Xu, Richards, Harnsberger, Topping
Communication Disorders Quarterly
Changes
in natural language environments of families receiving quantitative language
feedback in Shanghai were investigated. Volunteer parents of 22 children aged
5 to 30 months were recruited from a hospital and a learning center.
Quantitative measures of adult word count and conversational turns with
children were collected regularly over 6 months. Feedback reports to
caregivers included individual family plus group counts. Impact was assessed
by changes in quantitative measures and pre–post child language assessments.
Overall, families increased word/turn counts significantly during the first 3
months and then regressed to baseline levels. However, parents whose word
count output was below median at baseline significantly increased word count
output to study conclusion. Adult word and turn counts were related to a
subset of language development measures. Quantitative feedback with parent
training had a significant impact on adult–child interactions, particularly
for below-median families. Larger studies of wider socioeconomic status with
control groups are needed.