Leveraging the Skills of Nurses and the Power of Language Nutrition to Ensure a Better Future for Children.

BACKGROUND: Early language exposure is critical for language acquisition and significantly influences a child's literacy skills. However, preterm infants may experience language deprivation in the neonatal intensive care unit. Nurses are vital to helping parents understand their critical role in early language development. PURPOSE: To discuss the impact of language-rich interactions and interventions that promote early language exposure, or Language Nutrition, by parents and caregivers on the long-term developmental, language, and educational outcomes of high-risk infants. METHODS/SEARCH STRATEGY: A literature search was conducted using PubMed and Web of Science to identify articles that examined the influence of language interactions with high-risk infants on developmental outcomes. Recent campaigns touting the importance of early language exposure were identified through the Bridging the Word Gap Research Network. FINDINGS/RESULTS: Increasing preterm infants' exposure to Language Nutrition improves their language development, promotes parent-infant attachment, and decreases parent stress. In addition, it may result in greater neuroplasticity and volume of the auditory cortex. Several campaigns have been developed to increase children's access to Language Nutrition and can be implemented into everyday pediatric and neonatal care. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Pediatric, neonatal nurses and advanced practice nurses are uniquely positioned to play a transformational role in high-risk infants' developmental trajectory by educating parents about the importance of Language Nutrition and supporting parents as they engage with their infant. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: Studies investigating the population-level impact of interventions aimed at increasing infants' access to Language Nutrition as well as studies identifying effective ways to communicate messages about Language Nutrition are warranted.

The Power of Language Nutrition for Children's Brain Development, Health, and Future Academic Achievement.

Language Nutrition, a term created to describe language exposure that is rich in quality and quantity and delivered in the context of social interactions, is crucial for a child's development and is strongly associated with his/her future literacy, academic achievement, and health. However, significant differences in children's early language environments contribute to disparities in their educational and health trajectories. Interventions, including book distribution programs, coaching parents to enrich their child's language environment, and public awareness campaigns, have all been shown to positively influence a child's access to language-rich interactions. Incorporating Language Nutrition coaching and literacy promotion into pediatrics is a promising platform for building the capacity of parents to provide language exposure to their children. By teaching parents both how and why to treat their child as a conversational partner and by modeling such interactions, pediatric health care providers can help parents set their children on a pathway toward literacy, educational success, and health.