Evaluation of Wee Read Club+, an Early Speech and Language Intervention for Toddlers and Their Caregivers

Language delays in early childhood are prominent and are likely to negatively impact the child in a variety of areas including their future learning, relationships, and overall emotional development. Caregivers are known to be an integral component of children’s early language development, and research has shown that incorporating parents into language intervention results in positive outcomes. The current study aimed to investigate changes in the speech-language skills of children and the quality of parent-child interactions before and after completion of the Wee Read Club+ intervention. An additional aim was to analyze changes observed in participant’s behavior throughout participation in the intervention. While results indicated this 11-week intervention did not produce significant effects on the speech language skills of child participants, three of the four parent-child interaction outcomes demonstrated significant score changes post-intervention. Analysis of behavioral data indicated engagement and child initiation was higher for the song and activity portions than for the book portion of the intervention. Overall, the study showed more positive effects in parent outcomes than child outcomes, reflecting the parent-implemented nature of the intervention.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Psychology

Grantor

Texas Tech University

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Wargo, Lindsay Nichole

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Hamrick, Jennifer
• Stevens, Tara

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Lee, Jaehoon
• Siwatu, Kamau

• naturalistic language intervention
• early childhood language intervention

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2346/100208

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ttu-ir.tdl.org:2346/100208