Abstract:

Infant and toddler child care providers in the United States are often the least educated segment of the early care and education workforce, and their professional development (PD) generally consists of one-time workshops rather than longer, more cohesive programs that enhance knowledge about early development.[1] This situation is concerning because the first two-years of life are a crucial time in human development, and the quality of care that infants and toddlers receive during this time period can influence later development, particularly in the area of language.[2,3] In this paper, we present results of a project focused on the experience of six teachers of infants and toddlers who participated in a multi-session PD program, called LENA Grows, for fostering early language development. The PD program and technology used in this study were from the LENA Research Foundation. Infants and toddlers wore a small digital language recorder once a week in the child care setting. Utilizing a web-based portal to the LENA Research Foundation, reports were generated for data gathered on the recorders. Each report contained graphs for the number of adult words spoken to the children and the number of conversational turns between children and adults per hour.

Data were collected and analyzed to answer two research questions:
(1) What was the effectiveness of the PD program as measured by reports of the infant/toddler language environment and teachers’ pre- and post-project ratings of how frequently they engaged in twelve specific practices to promote infant/toddler language development? and
(2) In what ways did teachers describe and respond to implementation of the PD? Analyses and results of LENA recordings, pre- and post-project interviews with teachers, and teachers’ use of language promotion practices will be presented, along with implications for further research.

References:
[1] R. Madill, A. Blasberg, T. Halle, M. Zaslow, and D. Epstein, “Describing the preparation and ongoing professional development of the infant/toddler workforce: An analysis of the National Survey for Early Care and Education data,” OPRE Report no. 2016-16, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016.
[2] J. Gilkerson, J. A. Richards, S. F. Warren, D. K. Oller, R. Russo, and B. Vohr, “Language experience in the second year of life and language outcomes in late childhood,” Pediatrics, vol. 142, no. 4, pp. 1-11, 2018.
[3] L. H. Zauche, T. A. Thul, A. E. D. Mahoney, and J. L. Stapel-Wax, “Influence of language nutrition on children’s language and cognitive development: An integrated review.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly, vol. 36, pp. 318-333, 2016.

Keywords:

Infant language, toddler language, early childhood education, professional development.