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Semantic Contingency of Maternal Verbal Input Directed at Very Preterm and Full-Term Children
Nicoletta Salerni1, Chiara Suttora2
1Department of Psychology, University of Milano - Bicocca, Milano, Italy.
Frontiers in Psychology
|March 7, 2022
Summary
Mothers who use semantically contingent speech help language development. This responsive input is crucial for all children, including very preterm infants, supporting their communicative skills.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Responsive linguistic input, including maternal expansions and imitations, is vital for children's language acquisition.
- Specific maternal speech strategies positively influence language comprehension and production in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare semantically contingent linguistic input provided to very preterm and full-term children at 24 months.
- To investigate the relationship between maternal contingent utterances and children's communicative repertoires.
Main Methods:
- Observational study during semi-structured play sessions with 24-month-old children.
- Analysis of maternal speech, focusing on semantic contingency.
- Assessment of children's communicative-linguistic outcomes.
Main Results:
- Mothers of full-term children used a higher proportion of semantically contingent utterances than mothers of very preterm children.
- Maternal semantic contingency was positively associated with more advanced child communicative-linguistic outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Maternal use of semantically contingent speech is interdependent with a child's communicative-linguistic repertoire.
- This finding extends to very preterm children, highlighting the importance of semantic contingency in supporting their development.
- Child-directed speech strategies focusing on semantic contingency are crucial for optimal communicative and linguistic development.
Keywords:
child-directed speechlanguage developmentmaternal semantically contingent inputresponsivenessvery preterm childrenMore Related Videos
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