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About this paper symposium
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| Panel 8. Education, Schooling |
| Paper #1 | |
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| Benefits of Professional Development with Early Childhood Educators for Children’s Oral Language and Self-Regulation Skills | |
| Author information | Role |
| Elaine Reese, Ph.D., University of Otago, New Zealand | Presenting author |
| Tugce Bakir-Demir, University of Otago, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Sean Marshall, University of Otago, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Lou Moses, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Paul Jose, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Yvonne Awhina Mitchell, University of Otago, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Amanda Clifford, University of Otago, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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The quality and quantity of adult language input during early childhood shapes children’s oral language skills (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2019). In turn, children’s oral language skills are paramount for their later academic achievement (Pace et al., 2018). The toddler years are an especially important period for adult input and children’s language development (Gilkerson et al., 2018). With increasing numbers of children attending early childhood education (ECE) from young ages, it is critical to ensure that the language input from educators is of high quality and quantity. This is a challenge in ECE in which 1:1 interactions between educators and children are rare (Dickinson et al., 2014). This paper reports on a cluster RCT in Aotearoa New Zealand with ECE centers randomly assigned after baseline to either an oral language professional development condition (ENRICH) or an Active Control condition. Educators in the Active Control condition received two webinars on childhood nutrition at the same times that educators in the ENRICH condition received two workshops on fostering oral language in English and te reo Māori, the indigenous language of Aotearoa. ENRICH educators also received two sets of cards with interaction tips and a total of 8 books (4 bilingual) containing conversation prompts, plus supporting video materials. A total of 1889 educators and 1481 toddlers (13-30 months at outset) and their parents participated in the trial from 2021-2023. At baseline (Wave 1) and 9 months later (Wave 2), teachers and parents reported on children’s oral language skills using NZ-adapted versions of the Communicative Development Inventories (Fenson et al., 2000; Reese et al., 2018). At Wave 3, 18 months after baseline, teachers and parents reported on children’s advanced oral language skills using NZ-adapted versions of the Teacher/Parent Report of Oral Language and Literacy (Bird et al., 2023). Teachers and parents also reported on children’s self-regulation at Wave 2 with the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (Putnam et al., 2006) and at Wave 3 with the Child Behavior Rating Scale (Bronson et al., 1990). We used Multilevel Modeling (MLM) to account for nesting of children and teachers within centers; Expectation-Maximization imputation was used for missing data. Controlling for baseline skills and other covariates (sex, age, ethnicity, family SES, maternal education, bilingual status), preregistered analyses showed no significant effects of condition for Wave 2 oral language or self-regulation skills. By Wave 3, however, children in ENRICH centers scored higher than children in Control centers on oral language skills (both parent/teacher report), early literacy skills (teacher report), and self-regulation skills (teacher report; see Table 1). Future analyses will explore preregistered outcomes in te reo Māori as well as moderator effects as a function of the degree of ENRICH implementation and child characteristics. We will also assess the mediating role of oral language skills for children’s self-regulation outcomes. These findings suggest that professional development starting in the toddler years can help foster children’s oral language, literacy, and self-regulation skills, yet this process takes time, especially during adverse conditions such as the pandemic. |
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| Paper #2 | |
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| Benefits of Oral Language Professional Development for Observed Educator-Toddler Talk in Early Childhood Education Classrooms | |
| Author information | Role |
| Isabelle Swearingen, University of Otago, New Zealand | Presenting author |
| Yuxin Zhang, University of Otago, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Yvonne Awhina Mitchell, University of Otago, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Tugce Bakir-Demir, University of Otago, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Amanda Clifford, University of Otago, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Elizabeth Schaughency, University of Otago, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Mele Taumoepeau, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Penny van Bergen, University of Wollongong, Australia | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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The theory of change in early childhood education (ECE) interventions aimed at promoting children’s oral language development is that increasing the quantity and quality of educator talk will improve children’s oral language skills (Bleses et al., 2021). However, many large-scale interventions do not include fine-grained, observational measures of educator-child talk at baseline and during the intervention period (Dickinson et al., 2010; Neale & Pino-Pasternak, 2017). Instead, most large-scale studies rely on educator reports of their language use or on global scale measures of changes in language use (Siraj et al., 2023). As part of a cluster RCT of professional development with educators (ENRICH) to support children’s oral language development, a sub-study called the Video Project assessed observed educator-child interactions to track changes in educators’ and children’s talk across multiple settings before and after intervention. From a larger trial with 136 centers in Aotearoa/New Zealand, we randomly selected 24 centers (12 from the ENRICH condition and 12 from Control) from five predefined areas: 2 large cities, 2 small cities, and a rural town. Trained observers visited the centers at baseline and 1 year later to collect a total of 25 minutes of video each year across 5 activity settings targeted in the intervention: book-reading, diapering/toileting, mealtime, group/circle, and play times. A total of 110 educators and 183 children participated across the two timepoints. Interactions were transcribed and then coded along several dimensions critical for children’s language development (Rowe & Snow, 2020): temporal talk (past and future versus present), conversation-eliciting versus conversation-directing talk, lexical diversity (number of different words), syntactic complexity (mean length of utterance; mean length of turn), and quantity (number of utterances and questions), plus te reo Māori use. Preregistered analyses were conducted using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEEs) to account for our nested design with some missing and non-normal data. Results indicated no significant condition effects for group, mealtime, or play time. During book-reading, however, educators in ENRICH centers increased their conversation-eliciting talk (WT = 10.65, p < .001) and decreased the length of their conversational turns over time (WT = 4.20, p = .04) compared to Control educators; children in ENRICH centers correspondingly increased their total utterances (WT = 6.72, p = .01). During diapering, ENRICH educators increased their conversation-eliciting talk (WT = 4.60, p = .03) and decreased their speech complexity (WT = 4.15, p = .04) over time compared to Control educators. We also found significant increases over time for educators’ te reo Māori use in both ENRICH and Control centers for their two-word utterances during diapering (WT= 17.90, p < .001) and karakia/blessings during mealtime (WT= 4.93, p = .03). The observed changes in the quality and quantity of educator-child talk as a result of the ENRICH intervention support our theory of change for eventual increases in children’s oral language skills in the Main Trial, especially during 1:1 and small-group activities. These findings also illustrate that increases in educators’ English talk can occur simultaneously with increases in te reo Māori talk to revitalise Aotearoa’s indigenous language. |
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| Paper #3 | |
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| Longitudinal Associations Between Children’s Effortful Control and Neurophysiological Maturation in an Early Childhood Education Intervention | |
| Author information | Role |
| Anne Arnett, Ph.D., Harvard University, USA | Presenting author |
| Vincent Reid, University of Waikato, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Christopher Erb, University of Auckland, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Nadia Borlase, Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Anita Trudgen, Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Justin O'Sullivan, Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Elaine Reese, University of Otago, New Zealand | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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Rapid brain maturation in infancy and early childhood coincides with emerging behavioral and emotional self-regulation. This ability to monitor and modulate actions and responses is critical to children’s social and academic success. Children with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and language impairment, often demonstrate reduced self-regulation abilities as early as infancy. However, distinguishing infants and toddlers who will versus will not continue to show these differences in later childhood remains a challenge. Although DSM-5 ADHD rating scales are not normed for infants and toddlers, caregiver-report of temperament features, including effortful control, negative affect, and surgency, have been shown to relate to later ADHD and psychiatric symptoms. For instance, low effortful control is characterized by lower attention skills and higher impulsivity. As such, temperament ratings are a potential tool for early identification of very young children with self-regulation vulnerabilities. In a sub-study of a cluster randomized controlled trial in New Zealand in early childhood centres, 190 children completed 5 minutes of resting electroencephalography (EEG) assessment at baseline (M = 23 months, SD = 3.5) and two follow-up time points (M = 30 and 36 months, SDs = 3). Previously, we reported that baseline EEG was associated with concurrent language abilities and caregiver ratings of temperament. This talk focuses on longitudinal associations between neurophysiological maturation and self-regulation from infancy through preschool age. Children’s EEG assessments were processed in MATLAB with a customized pipeline designed to maximize signal to noise ratio in young, developmental populations (Arnett et al., 2024). The “fitting oscillations and one over f” (FOOOF; Donoghue et al., 2020) MATLAB package was used to extract aperiodic spectral power. Periodic power was then calculated as the difference between total and aperiodic power from 1-50 Hz frequencies (Wilkinson et al., 2024). Frequency bands were defined as theta (3-5 Hz), alpha (6-10 Hz), and beta (13-30 Hz). Primary caregivers completed temperament questionnaires (Putnam et al., 2006). Multilevel linear models were computed to examine the interactions between age and effortful control at baseline in association with adjusted periodic power at a central midline electrode (Cz). At Cz, periodic power in theta and alpha ranges increased with age, on average (B = .01, SE=.001, p < .001). Children with low effortful control at baseline had reduced overall periodic power (B = -0.17, SE = 0.06, p = .008) and steeper increase in alpha power over age (estimate = 0.004, SE = 0.002, p = .0297), compared to children with high effortful control (Figure 1). (As a caveat, these analyses are based on exploring the Cz electrode rather than an array of electrodes.) By contrast, there was no effect of child surgency or negative affect on periodic power development in early childhood. To conclude, low effortful control is uniquely associated with subsequent atypical neurophysiological maturation through early childhood. Additional analyses will investigate the association between effortful control growth trajectories and neurophysiological maturation, as well as moderation by intervention group (ENRICH oral language versus Active Control) in children's early childhood centers. |
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Best Start: An RCT in ECE to Promote Toddlers’ Oral Language, Self-Regulation, and Brain Development
Submission Type
Paper Symposium
Description
| Session Title | Best Start: An RCT in ECE to Promote Toddlers’ Oral Language, Self-Regulation, and Brain Development |