Relations Among the Home Language and Literacy Environment and Children's Language Abilities: A Study of Head Start Dual Language Learners and Their Mothers.

RESEARCH FINDINGS: This study explored the relations between Spanish-English dual language learner (DLL) children's home language and literacy experiences and their expressive vocabulary and oral comprehension abilities in Spanish and in English. Data from Spanish-English mothers of 93 preschool-age Head Start children who resided in central Pennsylvania were analyzed. Children completed the Picture Vocabulary and Oral Comprehension subtests of the Batería III Woodcock-Muñoz and the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Results revealed that the language spoken by mothers and children and the frequency of mother-child reading at home influenced children's Spanish language abilities. In addition, the frequency with which children told a story was positively related to children's performance on English oral language measures. PRACTICE OR POLICY: The findings suggest that language and literacy experiences at home have a differential impact on DLLs' language abilities in their 2 languages. Specific components of the home environment that benefit and support DLL children's language abilities are discussed.

A digital health application for managing pediatric asthma: Use and benefits.

Childhood asthma is a common and serious chronic lung disease. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies may assist clinical providers, caregivers, and children in managing pediatric asthma. This study evaluated the Nemours app, an mHealth application. We examined: a) frequency of data access by providers and feature use by caregivers (parents/legal guardians) of 5-11-year-old children diagnosed with asthma and b) whether utilization was related to benefits. Nine providers (allergists/pulmonologists) and 80 patient-families (caregiver/child dyads) participated. Two-years of retrospective data were obtained for asthma control, in-person urgent healthcare utilization, and app utilization. Six-months of prospective data included asthma control, in-person urgent healthcare utilization, app utilization, surveys, and health literacy screeners. Providers (56%) accessed app data and caregivers (61%) utilized the app. Caregiver use of messaging feature predicted gains in health literacy scores (b = .44, p = .041), suggesting app use may offer some educational benefits. Implementation of strategies that support app engagement and utilization may help to maximize intended benefits.

Small-Group, Emergent Literacy Intervention Under Two Implementation Models: Intent-to-Treat and Dosage Effects for Preschoolers at Risk for Reading Difficulties.

Preschool-age children identified as at risk for later reading difficulties can benefit from supplemental, small-group emergent literacy intervention. As such interventions become commercially available and marketed to preschool programs, it is important to understand their impacts when implemented by intended end users under routine conditions. In this study, we examined the effects of the Nemours BrightStart! (NBS!) intervention on children's emergent literacy skills when implemented by teachers and community aides in authentic preschool classrooms. We randomly assigned 98 classrooms to one of three conditions (NBS! teacher-implemented, NBS! community aide-implemented, or control). Children enrolled in these classrooms who met eligibility criteria and were identified as at risk via an early literacy screener (n = 281) completed pretest and posttest emergent literacy assessments; those assigned to NBS! conditions received intervention from their classroom teacher or a community aide affiliated with a local kindergarten-readiness initiative. Intent-to-treat analyses showed no significant impacts of NBS! on any outcome, and an instrumental variable, as-treated approach showed one significant intervention effect on letter writing. Consequently, we did not replicate results of prior highly controlled efficacy trials. Findings have implications for revising the NBS! theory of change, conducting dosage and as-treated analyses, and moving research-based interventions toward scale-up.

Psychometric profile of an experimental Emergent Literacy Screener for preschoolers.

Home literacy activities influence children's emergent literacy progress and readiness for reading instruction. To help parents fulfill this opportunity, we developed a new Emergent Literacy Screener (ELS) and conducted 2 studies of its psychometric properties with independent prekindergarten samples. For Study 1 (n = 812, Mage = 54.4 months, 49.4% male, 46.1% white) exploratory factor analyses (EFA) supported a 5-factor structure. EFA and item calibration supported the removal of 10 items from the original 30 test items. The resultant 20-item ELS demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .83) and significant positive correlation, r = .50, p < .001 with a standardized emergent literacy measure, Get Ready to Read - Revised. For Study 2 (n = 959, Mage = 53.5 months, 52.3% male, 60.3% white), confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported a bifactor model, which captured direct effects of 5 specific subfactors and an overarching emergent literacy factor. Using a cut score of 15, the ELS demonstrated moderate sensitivity (.71) and specificity (.61). Negative predictive value was high, whereas positive predictive value was low. Overall the ELS demonstrated acceptable psychometric characteristics for use by parents of prekindergarten children, providing a promising new tool for universal emergent literacy screening and an opportunity to identify where children are in their emergent literacy development. Implications for further research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Intermittent exposure to a social stimulus enhances ethanol drinking in rats.

The present experiment evaluates the effects of intermittent exposure to a social stimulus on ethanol and water drinking in rats. Four groups of rats were arranged in a 2x2 factorial design with 2 levels of Social procedure (Intermittent Social vs Continuous Social) and 2 levels of sipper Liquid (Ethanol vs Water). Intermittent Social groups received 35 trials per session. Each trial consisted of the insertion of the sipper tube for 10 s followed by lifting of the guillotine door for 15 s. The guillotine door separated the experimental rat from the conspecific rat in the wire mesh cage during the 60 s inter-trial interval. The Continuous Social groups received similar procedures except that the guillotine door was raised during the entire duration of the session. For the Ethanol groups, the concentrations of ethanol in the sipper [3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16% (vol/vol)] increased across sessions, while the Water groups received 0% ethanol (water) in the sipper throughout the experiment. Both Social procedures induced more intake of ethanol than water. The Intermittent Social procedure induced more ethanol intake at the two highest ethanol concentration blocks (10-12% and 14-16%) than the Continuous Social procedure, but this effect was not observed with water. Effects of social stimulation on ethanol drinking are discussed.

Analysis of Bilingual Children's Performance on the English and Spanish Versions of the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey-R (WMLS-R).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the way in which items on the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey Revised (WMLS-R) Spanish and English versions function for bilingual children from different ethnic subgroups who speak different dialects of Spanish. Using data from a sample of 324 bilingual Hispanic families and their children living on the United States mainland, differential item functioning (DIF) was conducted to determine if test items in English and Spanish functioned differently for Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican bilingual children. Data on child and parent language characteristics and children's scores on Picture Vocabulary and Story Recall subtests in English and Spanish were collected. DIF was not detected for items on the Spanish subtests. Results revealed that some items on English subtests displayed statistically and practically significant DIF. The findings indicate that there are differences in the difficulty level of WMLS-R English-form test items depending on the examinees' ethnic subgroup membership. This outcome suggests that test developers need to be mindful of potential differences in performance based on ethnic subgroup and dialect when developing standardized language assessments that may be administered to bilingual students.