Low-income fathers' speech to toddlers during book reading versus toy play.
Virginia C Salo, Meredith L Rowe, Kathryn A Leech and 1 others
PMID 26541647WHAT IT FOUND
Low-income fathers used more labels and wh-questions during book reading, and more directives and explanations during toy play.
Their book-reading questions were linked to toddlers' vocabulary, but not all links held up.
Key findings
01Fathers used more word types, questions, wh-questions, and labels per minute during book reading than toy play, but they produced longer utterances, more directives, and more explanations per minute during toy play.
02During book reading, fathers' wh-questions were positively related to children's vocabulary measured outside the interaction.
03Some associations did not survive a stricter check, including fathers' labeling and child word types during book reading, and fathers' longer utterances and child vocabulary during toy play.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
No comparable mother data, so parent differences cannot be checked. All dyads did book reading first, so order or warm-up may explain some context differences. A stricter check made some associations non-significant, so some links are not robust. The sample was limited to low-income African-American or Latino fathers, so it may not apply to other families. The study did not test an intervention, so it does not show that father speech causes child language gains.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that book reading causes better toddler language. The study observed associations and did not test an intervention, so it cannot show that changing how fathers read will improve language.