Effects of Quantitative Linguistic Feedback to Caregivers of Young Children

Abstract

Changes in natural language environments of families receiving quantitative language feedback in Shanghai were investigated. Volunteer parents of 22 children aged 5 to 30 months were recruited from a hospital and a learning center. Quantitative measures of adult word count and conversational turns with children were collected regularly over 6 months. Feedback reports to caregivers included individual family plus group counts. Impact was assessed by changes in quantitative measures and pre–post child language assessments. Overall, families increased word/turn counts significantly during the first 3 months and then regressed to baseline levels. However, parents whose word count output was below median at baseline significantly increased word count output to study conclusion. Adult word and turn counts were related to a subset of language development measures. Quantitative feedback with parent training had a significant impact on adult–child interactions, particularly for below-median families. Larger studies of wider socioeconomic status with control groups are needed.