Joanne E. Roberts

Relating quality of center-based child care to early cognitive and language development longitudinally.

How quality of center-based child care relates to early cognitive and language development was examined longitudinally from 6 to 36 months of age in a sample of 89 African American children. Both structural and process measures of quality of child care were collected through observation of the infant classroom. Results indicated that higher quality child care was related to higher measures of cognitive development (Bayley Scales of Infant Development), language development (Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development), and communication skills (Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales) across time, even after adjusting for selected child and family characteristics. In addition, classrooms that met professional recommendations regarding child:adult ratios tended to have children with better language skills. Classrooms that met recommendations regarding teacher education tended to have girls with better cognitive and receptive language skills. These findings, in conjunction with the growing child-care literature, provide further evidence that researchers and policymakers should strive to improve the quality of child care to enhance early development of such vulnerable children.

Cumulative risk and early cognitive development: a comparison of statistical risk models.

Although it is generally accepted that social risk factors predict delays in early cognitive and language development, there is less agreement about how to represent such associations statistically. Using data collected prospectively on 87 African American children during their first 4 years, this study examined 3 analytic methods for describing a childs level of social risk: (a) individual risk variables, (b) factor scores derived from those risk variables, and (c) a risk index computed by tallying the number of risk conditions present. Comparisons indicated that the individual-risk-variables approach provides better overall prediction of developmental outcomes at a particular age but is less useful in predicting developmental patterns. The risk-factor approach provides good prediction of developmental trajectories when sample sizes are moderate to large. Finally, the risk-index approach is useful for relating social risk to developmental patterns when a large number of risk variables are assessed with a small sample or when other constructs are of primary interest.

Social Risk and Protective Factors for African American Children's Academic Achievement and Adjustment during the Transition to Middle School.

The transition to middle school is often marked by decreased academic achievement and increased emotional stress, and African American children exposed to social risk may be especially vulnerable during this transition. To identify mediators and protective factors, the authors related severity and timing of risk exposure to academic achievement and adjustment between 4th and 6th grade in 74 African American children. Longitudinal analyses indicated that severity more than timing of risk exposure was negatively related to all outcomes and that language skills mediated the pathway from risk for most outcomes. Transition to middle school was related to lower math scores and to more externalizing problems when children experienced higher levels of social risk. Language skills and parenting served as protective factors, whereas expectations of racial discrimination was a vulnerability factor. Results imply that promoting parenting and, especially, language skills, and decreasing expectations of racial discrimination provide pathways to academic success for African American children during the transition from elementary to middle school, especially those exposed to adversity.

Social Risk and Protective Child, Parenting, and Child Care Factors in Early Elementary School Years

Objective. African American children exposed to multiple social risk factors during early childhood often experience academic difficulties, so identification of protective factors is important. Design. Academic and school behavior trajectories from kindergarten through third grade were studied among 75 African American children who have been followed prospectively since infancy to test hypothesized protective factors: quality of home and child care environments during early childhood, child language and social skills at entry to kindergarten, and school characteristics. Results. Children exposed to multiple risks in early childhood showed lower levels of academic and social-emotional skills from kindergarten through third grade. Parenting mediated the association with risk. Childrens language skills, parenting, and child care quality serve as protective factors in acquisition of mathematics skills and reduction in problem behaviors during the first 4 years of primary school for African American children facing multiple risks. Attending a school with a higher proportion of children from low-income families might predict increasing numbers of problem behaviors over time. Conclusions. Exposure to social risk in early childhood negatively predicted academic achievement and adjustment during early elementary school for African American children, in part through associations between exposure to social risk and less responsive and stimulating parenting. Furthermore, the negative associations between risk and academic outcomes were substantially weaker when children had more responsive and sensitive parents or child care providers or entered school with stronger language skills.

Language Characteristics of Individuals with Down Syndrome

On average, language and communication characteristics of individuals with Down syndrome (the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability) follow a consistent profile. Despite considerable individual variability, receptive language is typically stronger than expressive language, with particular challenges in phonology and syntax. We review the literature on language and literacy skills of individuals with Down syndrome, with emphasis on the areas of phonology, vocabulary, syntax, and pragmatics. We begin by describing the hearing, oral-motor, cognitive, social, and prelinguistic and early nonverbal communication characteristics of individuals with Down syndrome. We conclude with a discussion of clinical implications and research directions.

Otitis media, hearing loss, and language learning: Controversies and current research

ABSTRACT. This article reviews research on the possible linkage of otitis media with effusion (OME) to childrens hearing and development, identifies gaps, and directions for research, and discusses implications for healthcare practices. About half of children with an episode of OME experience a mild hearing loss while about 5-10% of children have moderate hearing loss. Recent prospective and randomized clinical trials suggest none to very small negative associations of OME to childrens later language development. Based on both retrospective and prospective longitudinal studies, associations between OME and perceiving speech in noise and tasks that require equal binaural hearing have been reported but have not been adequately studied with regard to functional outcomes. Thus, on average, for typically developing children, OME may not be a substantial risk factor for later speech and language development or academic achievement. However, these conclusions should be interpreted cautiously, since most of these studies used OME rather than hearing loss as the independent variable (although hearing loss rather than OME is hypothesized to affect language development) and many studies did not control for important confounding variables such as socioeconomic status (SES).

Receptive and Expressive Communication Development of Young Males With Fragile X Syndrome

We prospectively examined the developmental trajectories of receptive and expressive communication skills of 39 young males, 20 to 86 months of age, with fragile X syndrome. Eight showed features characteristic of autism. Children were tested one to three times using a standardized language test. They showed marked delays in language development, but substantial individual variability. Participants acquired expressive language skills more slowly than receptive language over time, gaining receptive language at about half the rate expected for typically developing children and expressive language at one third the rate. Both cognitive skills and autistic characteristics of the young males with fragile X syndrome related to receptive and expressive communication development, but neither predicted the discrepancies between expressive and receptive language acquisition over time.

Parents' Report of Vocabulary and Grammatical Development of African American Preschoolers: Child and Environmental Associations

This study examined how child and family factors affect individual differences in the language development of African American children between 18 and 30 months of age. Participants were 87 African American children, primarily from low-income families. Childrens vocabulary and grammatical skills were assessed at 18, 24, and 30 months of age using the short form of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (CDI), a standardized parent report tool. Standardized language tests were administered repeatedly between 1 and 3 years of age. Results showed that childrens vocabulary and utterance length grew linearly over time between 18 and 30 months of age. Children from more stimulating and responsive homes were reported to have larger vocabularies, to use more irregular nouns and verbs, and to use longer utterances, in addition to having more rapid rates of acquisition of irregular forms and longer utterances over time. Girls used longer utterances than boys and more irregular forms. Girls also had larger vocabularies in a secondary analysis that eliminated children whose parent report of their vocabulary was substantially lower than childrens scores on a standardized language test. There are indications that some parents may be under-reporting their childrens early vocabulary and grammatical development, with a high proportion of the parents reporting their childs 30 month vocabulary and grammatical development as being at or below the 10th percentile according to the CDI norms.

Otitis media, hearing sensitivity, and maternal responsiveness in relation to language during infancy

The relation of otitis media with effusion (OME) and associated hearing loss to language and cognitive skills at 1 year of age was studied to determine whether OME-related hearing loss had a direct association with language and cognitive outcomes at 1 year of age or an indirect association with these outcomes, as mediated by the child-rearing environment. Subjects were 61 black infants attending community-based child care programs. The presence of OME was assessed biweekly from 6 to 12 months of age by otoscopy and tympanometry. Hearing was assessed with visual reinforcement audiometry when children were well and when ill with OME. Language and cognitive skills and the child-rearing environment at home and in child care were examined. The results indicated a modest correlation between hearing loss associated with OME and receptive language. However, the direct association between OME-related hearing loss and all the language and cognitive measures was negligible. Hearing loss had an indirect association with receptive and expressive language, cognitive development, and overall communication as mediated by child-rearing factors. That is, children with more frequent hearing loss tended to have less responsive mothers and home environments, and this association was linked to lower performance on the infant assessments.

Otitis Media, the Caregiving Environment, and Language and Cognitive Outcomes at 2 Years

Objective. To examine the relationship between otitis media with effusion (OME) and associated hearing loss between 6 and 24 months of age and childrens language and cognitive development at 2 years of age. Study Design. A prospective cohort design in which 86 African-American infants who attended group child-care centers were recruited between 6 and 12 months of age. Between 6 and 24 months, assessments included serial ear examinations using otoscopy and tympanometry, serial hearing tests, two ratings of the childrearing environment at home and in child care, and language and cognitive outcomes at 2 years. Results. Children experienced either unilateral or bilateral OME an average of 63% and reduced hearing sensitivity an average of 44% of the time between 6 and 24 months of age. Although proportion of time with OME or with hearing loss was modestly correlated with measures of language and cognitive skills, these relationships were no longer significant when the ratings of the home and child-care environments were also considered. Children with more OME or hearing loss tended to live in less responsive caregiving environments, and these environments were linked to lower performance in expressive language and vocabulary acquisition at 2 years. Conclusions. Both OME and hearing loss were more strongly related to the quality of home and child-care environments than to childrens language and cognitive development. Study results might be explained either by suggesting that children in less responsive caregiving environments experience conditions that make them more likely to experience OME and/or by suggesting that it may be more difficult for caregivers to be responsive and stimulating with children with more OME.