Journal article
The role of joint engagement in the development of language in a community-derived sample of slow-to-talk children
LJ Conway, PA Levickis, F Mensah, JA Smith, M Wake, S Reilly
Journal of Child Language | CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS | Published : 2018
Abstract
We explored whether supported (SJE) or coordinated joint engagement (CJE) between mothers recruited from the community and their 24-month-old children who were slow-to-talk at 18 months old were associated with child language scores at ages 24, 36, and 48 months (n = 197). We further explored whether SJE or CJE modified the concurrent positive associations between maternal responsive behaviours and language scores. Previous research has shown that SJE, maternal expansions, imitations, and responsive questions were associated with better language scores. Our main finding was that SJE but not CJE was consistently positively associated with 24-and 36-month-old expressive and receptive language ..
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Awarded by Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Funding Acknowledgements
Let's Learn Language (NHMRC Strategic Award 384491) and Language for Learning (NHMRC Project Grant 607407) were funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. Manuscript preparation was supported by the NHMRC-funded Centre of Research Excellence in Child Language (#1023493), an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (previously known as an Australian Postgraduate Award), and an MCRI top-up scholarship for LC, and an NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship for SR (#1041892). FM has been supported by an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (#1037449), an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (#1111160), and research at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute supported by the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program. We thank Professor Edith Bavin for her advice, and Dr Sherryn Tobin and Ms Hannah Bryson for data collection. We sincerely thank the participants and their families.