Designed to support families in using strategies to foster their infant鈥檚 language development, Strong Beginnings for Babies focused on families of children slated to enter high-poverty schools at kindergarten or who were receiving Medicaid.
Heidi Hollingsworth and Mary Knight-McKenna in the Department of Education and Wellness and Judy Esposito in the Department of Human Service Studies published three articles based on a community-based research project called Strong Beginnings for Babies. Caroline Redd ’19 co-authored one of the publications.
Designed to support families in using strategies to foster their infant鈥檚 language development, Strong Beginnings for Babies focused on families of children slated to enter high-poverty schools at kindergarten or who were receiving Medicaid. The majority of participants in the project self-identified as Hispanic, Latino or of Spanish origin. Three coaches were hired to work closely with participating families during a series of group sessions, model language promotion strategies, and review language analysis reports with families.
The research employed Language Environmental Analysis (LENA) digital language processors, that fit in the pocket of a vest worn by the child, to record the vocalizations and verbalizations of the infants and toddlers and well as those of the older children and adults who interacted with them within a six-foot radius. After each recording episode, data from the device was uploaded to a cloud-based system, and LENA software generated reports for the numerical data and provided comparisons to LENA normative data.
The first publication was a mixed methods study entitled, 鈥淪trong Beginnings for Babies: Families鈥 language stimulation of infants from low-income backgrounds,鈥 which focused on the quantitative data from LENA reports. Analyses of 249 LENA recordings indicated increases in some measures of infants鈥 home language environments across the program period, particularly for families whose initial LENA scores were low. However, there was great variability in the recordings data. The analysis of qualitative data sources, such as parent surveys and interviews with coaches, provided insights into the emotions elicited by LENA data, recording challenges, and additional supports that encouraged family progress.
The second publication is entitled, 鈥淚nfant language stimulation: A mixed-methods study of low-income families鈥 preference for and use of ten strategies.鈥 Research-based language promotion strategies formed the curriculum for Strong Beginnings for Babies. Strategies were described and modeled by coaches to promote adult-child conversational turns. Coach reports and parent ratings indicated there were strategies for which families expressed strongest preference, especially those involving music or chatting with their child. Furthermore, families used these strategies most often. Coaches reported much evidence of family members talking, singing, and reading to their babies, even when a specific strategy of focus was not named.
The third publication, 鈥淔amily and coach responses to a program for fostering infant language鈥 investigated聽how the family participants and coaches working in Strong Beginnings for Babies responded to the project. Analyses of surveys, interviews, and coach notes indicated that the project proffered聽a聽number of benefits聽for聽both聽families聽and聽coaches. Benefits for families included increased knowledge about the importance of and practices聽for聽engaging in language interactions with their聽infants, as well as聽a聽sense of community with other聽families. Benefits for coaches included personal and professional opportunities聽for聽growth and positive relationships with participating聽families. Challenges and areas聽for聽improvement were also noted. Although families expressed聽a聽desire聽for聽more frequent and longer coaching sessions,聽coaches聽reported concerns about inconsistent聽program聽attendance and acknowledged the complexities of聽families’ lives.
Strong Beginnings for Babies was funded with grants from Impact Alamance and 福利亚洲国产精品 School of Education.
Knight-McKenna, M.,聽Hollingsworth, H. L., & Esposito, J. (2020). Strong beginnings for babies: Families鈥 language stimulation of infants from low-income backgrounds.聽Journal of Children and Poverty, 26(2), 105-124.聽
Knight-McKenna, M.,聽Hollingsworth, H. L., & Esposito, J. (2020). Infant language stimulation: A mixed-methods study of low-income families鈥 preference for and use of ten strategies.聽Early Child Development and Care.
Hollingsworth, H. L., Knight-McKenna, M., & Esposito, J., &聽Redd, C.聽(2021). Family and coach responses to a program for fostering infant language.聽Infants and Young Children, 34(3), 204-224.