2024 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 17-19, 2024 • Denver, CO
3/18/2024 | 2:25 PM - 2:50 PM | Language Nutrition: The Key Role of Families in Fostering Language and Literacy | Capitol 5
Language Nutrition: The Key Role of Families in Fostering Language and Literacy
The critical impact of the early language environment on typically hearing children has been explored in a number of studies. Dana Suskind’s best-selling book, Thirty Million Words, popularized the concept of neuroplasticity in an infant’s brain as well as the importance of the baby-caretaker relationship in which mothers exude the comfortable warmth of mixing language with physical touches. Suskind’s work was inspired by the 1995 Hart & Risley study of children in 42 families that found meaningful differences in the linguistic experiences of children based upon socioeconomic characteristics.
These concepts were further advanced by pediatric nurses (Zache et al, 2017) advising parents on their key role in advancing their child’s future education using the term “Language Nutrition.” Pediatric providers were encouraged to teach parents how to engage as conversational partners with their young children to stimulate language-rich interactions leading to high educational attainment and improved health outcomes.
More recently these concepts have been recognized as a crucial component of family training for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Public and private schools in Georgia implemented programs to advance reading skills by involving families and educational professionals. Research demonstrates the importance of using the language of the home to maximize language learning and social/emotional well-being. We now recognize that the comfortable give and take between care-givers and children is best carried out in the language of the home—whether that be English, Spanish, Polish, ASL, or anything else. It is the quantity and quality of language at home that makes a difference in building a child’s learning and language.
This session will review research on Language Nutrition with emphasis on how care-giver interactions can maximize language learning and literacy for children who are deaf or hard of hearing by using parent talk—regardless of family socioeconomic status or home language.
- Understand the key role of parents and other family members in advancing language and learning in children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Review research and practice on the use of Language Nutrition by care-givers to advance their children’s educational attainment and lifetime success.
- Discuss applicability of parent talk for families of low-socioeconomic status and for whom the home language is not English.
Presentation:
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Handouts:
3478265_16389DonnaSorkin.pptx
Transcripts:
3478265_16389DonnaSorkin.docx
Presenters/Authors
Donna Sorkin
(Primary Presenter), American Cochlear Implant Alliance, dsorkin@acialliance.org;
2. Donna Sorkin is the executive director of the American Cochlear Implant Alliance, an organization whose mission is to advance access to the gift of hearing provided by cochlear implantation through research, advocacy and awareness. Prior to joining ACI Alliance, she was vice president for consumer affairs at Cochlear Americas, and also previously served as the executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America and the AG Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She experienced progressive hearing loss as an adult and has has been hearing with a cochlear implant for 30 years.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.