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

Introduction: Early home support for language development is critical for later developmental progress. Paediatricians have the opportunity to identify families at risk of failing to provide this support in infancy but often lack simple tools to do so. This study explores the potential of a simple count of sociodemographic risk factors, a cumulative risk (CR) index, to identify families likely to need help in providing literacy support from an early age.