Socioeconomic Status and Children’s Vocabulary

In a study that provided a first-generation standardization of automated language environment estimates, validated these estimates against standard language assessments, it was found that the "word gap" between high-income and low-income groups was about 4 million by the time the children turned 4, not 30 million by age 3. Child vocalization frequency and turn-taking increased with age, whereas adult word counts were age independent after early infancy.

Lower socioeconomic status (SES) children produced fewer vocalizations, engaged in fewer adult–child interactions, and were exposed to fewer daily adult words compared with their higher socioeconomic status peers, but within-group variability was high. The results offer new insight into the landscape of the early language environment, with clinical implications for identification of children at-risk for impoverished language environments.

Gilkerson, J., Richards, J. A., Warren, S. F., Montgomery, J. K., Greenwood, C. R., Oller, D. K., Hansen, J. H. L., & Paul, T. D. (2017). Mapping the early language environment using all-day recordings and automated analysis. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 26, 248-265. http://dx.doi.org/10.1044/2016_AJSLP-15-0169

Early Learning Environment Paves Way for Future Academic Skills

A new study found that children's early learning environment in infancy and toddlerhood can predict their academic skills by 5^th grade. Children’s early learning environment comprised measures of literacy activities, the quality of mothers’ engagements with children, and learning materials assessed at 14 months, 2 and 3 years, and at pre-kindergarten; learning environments were again assessed in 5th grade. At pre-kindergarten and in 5th grade, children were assessed on pre-academic and academic skills respectively. Early learning environments predicted children’s 5th grade academic skills, and children’s pre-kindergarten skills and 5th grade learning environment mediated longitudinal associations. The early learning environment supports the emergence of pre-academic skills that are stable into early adolescence, and pathways generalize across ethnic/racial groups.

Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Luo, R., McFadden, K. E., Bandel, E. T., & Vallotton, C. (2017). Early home learning environment predicts children's 5th grade academic skills. Applied Developmental Science, 1-17. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2017.1345634