The Influence of Caregiver Language on the Association Between Child Temperament and Spoken Language in Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.
Kristina Bowdrie, Holly Lind-Combs, Andrew Blank and 1 others
PMID 37127900WHAT IT FOUND
In 59 deaf and hard-of-hearing children, caregiver word variety was linked to better comprehension.
When caregivers used fewer different words, children with better self-control scored higher; when they used many different words, self-control mattered less.
Key findings
01Higher child effortful control was associated with better receptive language and with caregivers using greater syntactic complexity.
02Greater caregiver lexical diversity and syntactic complexity were associated with better receptive language.
03Caregiver lexical diversity moderated the relation between effortful control and receptive language: the relation was present at low and moderate caregiver word variety, but not at high word variety.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show whether caregiver language, temperament, or receptive language influenced the others over time. The sample was small for moderation analyses, and the syntactic complexity interaction was only marginal. Caregiver language was measured during one semi-structured play session, which may not represent everyday input. The study examined receptive language only and did not measure language production. One child with hearing aids was excluded because she could not complete receptive language measures.
Declared interests
The supplied publication types list NIH extramural research support. The article text provided does not include a conflicts-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that coaching caregivers to use more words or more complex grammar will improve a child's comprehension. The study measured associations at one home visit and did not test an intervention, so it cannot show that caregiver language caused the child's language scores.