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Cumulative risk, the cognitive home environment and vocabulary in early childhood

Amy E Shriver1, Levi N Bonnell2, Stephen Berman3

  • 1Pediatrics, Blank Children's Hospital, Des Moines, Iowa.

Child: Care, Health and Development
|December 19, 2019
PubMed

Insights

A cumulative risk (CR) index effectively identifies families needing early language development support. This simple tool aids paediatricians in pinpointing at-risk households to prevent long-term developmental issues.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Pediatrics
  • Sociodemographic Health Research
  • Early Childhood Education

Background:

  • Early home language support is crucial for children's developmental progress.
  • Paediatricians can identify at-risk families but lack simple screening tools.
  • Sociodemographic factors can impede a child's home literacy environment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate a cumulative risk (CR) index as a tool for identifying families needing support for early language development.
  • To determine if a CR index can predict the need for literacy support in the home environment.
  • To explore the utility of a simple sociodemographic risk factor count in paediatric practice.

Main Methods:

  • Calculated CR scores for 308 families at 11-15 months and 197 at 23-37 months.
  • Utilized the STIMQ (Stimulation) and MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI).
  • Employed analysis of variance and correlation analysis to assess the impact of CR on language development measures.

Main Results:

  • The CR index significantly affected STIMQ scores at both baseline and follow-up (p<0.006).
  • STIMQ scores decreased linearly as CR scores increased (p<0.05-0.005).
  • MCDI scores did not show significant effects from the CR index, but correlated with STIMQ scores (r=0.18-0.26).

Conclusions:

  • The CR index is a practical tool for paediatricians to identify families requiring assistance with language-stimulating home environments.
  • Early identification via the CR index can help mitigate long-term negative effects of sociodemographic barriers on child development.
  • Intervention before two years of age is critical for addressing language development needs.
Abstract

Keywords:
MacArthur Communicative Development InventoryStimQcognitive home environmentcumulative risk indexvocabulary development

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