PSY2004 W8 Individual Differences in Language Dev, Socioeconomic circumstances & Early Language Intervention (L)

Question 1

When do children produce their first words and is there large individual differences?

Answer 1

Most children start producing their first words within a few months of their first birthday (10 -15 months as measured by parental reports with the MacArthur-Bates CDI, Fenson et.al., 1994).
There are enormous individual differences in the rate of learning.

Question 2

Does language ability predict educational outcome?

Data from the Millenium Cohort Study

Answer 2

Children’s language ability at age 4-5 predicts their later educational outcomes.

Likelihood of passing GCSE (or equivalent) Maths, English and Science at age 16 as a function of age 5 vocabulary and Socio-Economic quintile. Controls include standardized test of caregiver language ability.

Question 3

What predicts infant’s trainsition to language?

Answer 3

pre-linguistic communication

Question 4

What predics infants language abilities?

Answer 4

caregivers responsiveness

Question 5

What is a factor associated with vocab development?

Answer 5

Socio-economic circumstances

Question 6

What is the Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological systems theory?

Answer 6

Ecology (environment) study of interactino among organisms and their envrionemnts. Different levels of environmental influence. Parent-child relationship does not exist in a social vacuum.
Microsystem [Mesosystel]
- Family
- Classroom
- Peer group
- Religious setting

Exosystem
- Medical institution
- School system
- Cummunity
- Mass Media

Macrosystem
- Culutral values
- Social condition
- Economic patterns
- Political philosophy
- National customs

Question 7

What does the ecology of human development involve?

Answer 7

scientific study of the progressive, mutual accomodation between an eactive, growing human being an dhe changing propertis of the immediate settings in which the developing person lives, as this process is affected by relations between these settings and by the larger context in which the settings are embedded.

Question 8

What are socio-economic circumstances (SEC) associated with?

Answer 8

Caregiver language, child language, child outcomes

Question 9

What was found when investiating how vocab related to different dimensions of family SEC?

Thornton zr et al. 2021

Answer 9

as you SEC becomes more privilidge you score higher on vocab test no matter the age [parent engagement, relative neighbourhood depreivation, SES factors, Household ocupational status, wealth, income, household parent educational attainment

Question 10

What is contingent talk ?

Answer 10

talk with a baby about what haye are attending to, running narrative

Significant corelation

Question 11

Do parenting interventions work ?

Answer 11

So far evidence is equivocal regarding whether early parenting interventions work.
Need to check proposed active ingredient.
Identify most plausible, feasible and acceptable opportunities for change: Qualitative work, correlation studies, lab-based experiments to check mechanisms, pilot interventions – feasibility and acceptability
Test causal relation with child outcomes

Question 12

Does caregiver contingent talk effect language?

McGillion, Pine, Herbert & Matthews, 2017

Answer 12

For lower SES infants there was a vocab growth with the intervention.

Additionally there is good longitudinal evidence of association with later vocab and experimental evidence to demonstrate how it promotes learning