Parent book choices: How do parents select books to share with infants and toddlers with language impairment?

Book-sharing with young children is an established vehicle for promoting early language development and pre-literacy skills. Although parents are widely encouraged to read to their child and existing interventions provide instruction on book-sharing strategies, there is a prominent lack of guidance for parents on how to choose the book itself. Importantly, there is a foundational lack of knowledge on the factors that parents take into consideration when choosing books to share with their young child. While understanding that parent book-choice is important for all children, it may be particularly important for those with language-impairment (LI), since book-sharing is an evidence-based intervention approach and widely recommended to promote language for LI populations. This qualitative study examines parents' book selection choices, and the elements they consider, when choosing books to share with their infants and toddlers with LI. Participants included 13 parents of young children aged 19-29 months (9 males, 4 females; mean age 25 months) receiving Part C services. Parent responses indicated that the most common themes considered included physical aesthetics, text difficulty, physical properties, educational considerations and content; the relative importance of these themes varied depending on context. Results are framed in the context of research on parent-child book-sharing interactions. Recommendations for practitioners working with parents and young children with LI during book-sharing are also highlighted.

Shared Book Reading Intervention for Parents of Infants and Toddlers.

Shared book reading is a well-established vehicle for promoting child language and early development. Yet, existing shared reading interventions have primarily included only children age 3 years and older and high quality dialogic strategies have been less systematically applied for infants and toddlers. To address this gap, we have developed a book-sharing intervention for parents of 12- to 36-month-olds. The current study evaluated acceptability/usability and preliminary efficacy of book-sharing intervention in a randomized controlled trial. Parent-child dyads were randomized to either 8-week book-sharing intervention (n=15) or wait list control (n=15). Parent book-sharing skills were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and 2-month follow-up. Results indicated parents found the intervention highly acceptable and useful. Parents receiving intervention demonstrated significant improvement in book-sharing strategies compared to controls at post-intervention and 2-month follow-up. The current study provides evidence for the benefit of a brief, low intensity, targeted intervention to enhance parent book-sharing with infants and toddlers.

Assessment of Deformational Plagiocephaly Severity and Neonatal Developmental Delay.

Deformational plagiocephaly (DP) in infants has been associated with developmental delay that can last until adolescence. Despite this association and a 5-fold increase in incidence of DP over the past 2 decades, there are currently no guidelines regarding screening for developmental delay or identification of which infants with DP are at the greatest risk of delay. A prospective, nonrandomized study was performed. Infants diagnosed with DP who had no prior intervention were eligible for enrollment. Cranial deformity was measured by cross-cranial measurements using calipers, and developmental delay was measured using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (Bayley-III). Correlation between cranial deformity and developmental delay was analyzed using a linear regression. Twenty-seven infants, ages 4.0 to 11.0 months (mean = 6.61 months) diagnosed with DP were studied. Developmental delay was observed on the composite language (n = 3 of 27, 11%), and composite motor (n = 5 of 23, 22%) scales, but not the cognitive scale. Severity of cranial deformity did not correlate with scores on any Bayley-III scales (cognitive R = 0.058, P = 0.238; composite language R = 0.03, P = 0.399; composite motor R = 0.0195, P = 0.536). This study demonstrates that severity of cranial deformity cannot be used to predict presence or degree of developmental delay. Craniofacial surgeons should be aware of this risk and consider developmental screening based on clinical suspicion.