Accuracy of Automatic Processing of Speech-Language Pathologist and Child Talk During School-Based Therapy Sessions.

Purpose: This study examines the accuracy of Interaction Detection in Early Childhood Settings (IDEAS), a program that automatically transcribes audio files and estimates linguistic units relevant to speech-language therapy, including part-of-speech units that represent features of language complexity, such as adjectives and coordinating conjunctions.

Method: Forty-five video-recorded speech-language therapy sessions involving 27 speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and 56 children were used. The measure determines the accuracy of IDEAS diarization (i.

The preschool classroom linguistic environment: Children's first-person experiences.

The linguistic environment of the classroom is influential to young children's language development. To date, however, literature on the linguistic environment of child-care centers has largely examined teacher practices or children's aggregate environment, overlooking the child's first-person experiences and differentiated experiences within the classroom. In this study we used a new method in the educational setting that captures the learner's perspective: head-mounted cameras.

When Children Are Not Read to at Home: The Million Word Gap.

Objective: In the United States, there are numerous ongoing efforts to remedy the Word Gap: massive differences in heard vocabulary for poor versus advantaged children during the first 5 years of life. One potentially important resource for vocabulary exposure is children's book reading sessions, which are more lexically diverse than standard caregiver-child conversations and have demonstrated significant correlational and causal influences on children's vocabulary development. Yet, nationally representative data suggest that around 25% of caregivers never read with their children.