Native American Caregiver-Child Shared Book Reading Interactions: A Descriptive Study and Integrative Review.
Mark Guiberson, Kyliah Petrita Ferris
PMID 36409972WHAT IT FOUND
Native American caregivers frequently used shared book reading to maintain attention and teach words, but rarely asked recall or prediction questions.
These observed behaviors align with caregiver reports, offering a starting point for culturally responsive early literacy strategies.
Key findings
01Caregivers most frequently demonstrated behaviors that enhanced attention to the text, such as sharing the book and using child-adjusted language.
02Strategies involving literacy skills, such as soliciting predictions or asking children to recall information, were rarely observed during the interactions.
03Caregiver reports of teaching strategies largely matched observed behaviors, though some reported strategies like questioning were not seen in the short book interactions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was small and recruited from reservation-based early education programs, so it may only represent families already highly engaged in their children's development. The study used a non-standardized coding tool (ACIRI) that had not been previously validated for Native American populations. The interactions were very short (five minutes per book), which may explain why some strategies reported by caregivers, like questioning, were not observed. The findings come from a specific region (Mountain West) and cannot be generalized to all Native American tribes or communities.
Declared interests
The research was supported by a National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant awarded to one of the authors. No other conflicts of interest are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the identified strategies as proven interventions. This study describes what caregivers currently do and proposes potential approaches based on a review; it did not test whether these strategies improve child language outcomes.