Children's Early Decontextualized Talk Predicts Academic Language Proficiency in Midadolescence

This study examines whether children’s decontextualized talk—talk about nonpresent events, explanations, orpretend—at 30 months predicts seventh-grade academic language proficiency (age 12). Academic language(AL) refers to the language of school texts. AL profi ciency has been identified as an important predictor ofadolescent text comprehension. Yet research on precursors to AL proficiency is scarce. Child decontextualizedtalk is known to be a predictor of early discourse development, but its relation to later language outcomesremains unclear. Forty-two children and their caregivers participated in this study. The proportion of childtalk that was decontextualized emerged as a significant predictor of seventh-grade AL proficiency, even aftercontrolling for socioeconomic status, parent decontextualized talk, child total words, child vocabulary, andchild syntactic comprehension

The pace of vocabulary growth during preschool predicts cortical structure at school age

Children vary greatly in their vocabulary development during preschool years. Importantly, the pace of this early vocabulary growth predicts vocabulary size at school entrance. Despite its importance for later academic success, not much is known about the relation between individual differences in early vocabulary development and later brain structure and function. Here we examined the association between vocabulary growth in children, as estimated from longitudinal measurements from 14 to 58 months, and individual differences in brain structure measured in 3rd and 4th grade (8-10 years old). Our results show that the pace of vocabulary growth uniquely predicts cortical thickness in the left supramarginal gyrus. Probabilistic tractography revealed that this region is directly connected to the inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercularis) and the ventral premotor cortex, via what is most probably the superior longitudinal fasciculus III. Our findings demonstrate, for the first time, the relation between the pace of vocabulary learning in children and a specific change in the structure of the cerebral cortex, specifically, cortical thickness in the left supramarginal gyrus. They also highlight the fact that differences in the pace of vocabulary growth are associated with the dorsal language stream, which is thought to support speech perception and articulation

L2 Vocabulary Teaching by Social Robots: The Role of Gestures and On-Screen Cues as Scaffolds

Social robots are receiving an ever-increasing interest in popular media and scientific literature. Yet, empirical evaluation of the educational use of social robots remains limited. In the current paper, we focus on how different scaffolds (co-speech hand gestures vs. visual cues presented on the screen) influence the effectiveness of a robot second language (L2) tutor. In two studies, Turkish-speaking 5-year-olds (n = 72) learned English measurement terms (e.g., big, wide) either from a robot or a human tutor. We asked whether (1) the robot tutor can be as effective as the human tutor when they follow the same protocol, (2) the scaffolds differ in how they support L2 vocabulary learning, and (3) the types of hand gestures affect the effectiveness of teaching. In all conditions, children learned new L2 words equally successfully from the robot tutor and the human tutor. However, the tutors were more effective when teaching was supported by the on-screen cues that directed children's attention to the referents of target words, compared to when the tutor performed co-speech hand gestures representing the target words (i.e., iconic gestures) or pointing at the referents (i.e., deictic gestures). The types of gestures did not significantly influence learning. These findings support the potential of social robots as a supplementary tool to help young children learn language but suggest that the specifics of implementation need to be carefully considered to maximize learning gains. Broader theoretical and practical issues regarding the use of educational robots are also discussed

Parent Language Input Prior to School Forecasts Change in Children's Language-Related Cortical Structures During Mid-Adolescence.

Children differ widely in their early language development, and this variability has important implications for later life outcomes. Parent language input is a strong experiential factor predicting the variability in children's early language skills. However, little is known about the brain or cognitive mechanisms that underlie the relationship. In addressing this gap, we used longitudinal data spanning 15 years to examine the role of early parental language input that children receive during preschool years in the development of brain structures that support language processing during school years. Using naturalistic parent-child interactions, we measured parental language input (amount and complexity) to children between the ages of 18 and 42 months (n = 23). We then assessed longitudinal changes in children's cortical thickness measured at five time points between 9 and 16 years of age. We focused on specific regions of interest (ROIs) that have been shown to play a role in language processing. Our results support the view that, even after accounting for important covariates such as parental intelligence quotient (IQ) and education, the amount and complexity of language input to a young child prior to school forecasts the rate of change in cortical thickness during the 7-year period from 5½ to 12½ years later. Examining the proximal correlates of change in brain and cognitive differences has the potential to inform targets for effective prevention and intervention strategies

The predictive value of non-referential beat gestures: early use in parent–child interactions predicts narrative abilities at 5 years of age

A longitudinal study with 45 children (Hispanic, 13%; non-Hispanic, 87%) investigated whether the early production of non-referential beat and flip gestures, as opposed to referential iconic gestures, in parent-child naturalistic interactions from 14 to 58 months old predicts narrative abilities at age 5. Results revealed that only non-referential beats significantly (p < .01) predicted later narrative productions. The pragmatic functions of the children’s speech that accompany these gestures were also analyzed in a representative sample of 18 parent-child dyads, revealing that beats were typically associated with biased assertions or questions. These findings show that the early use of beats predicts narrative abilities later in development, and suggest that this relation is likely due to the pragmatic– structuring function that beats reflect in early discourse.Funding Information: - Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER): PGC2018-097007-B-100, “Multimodal Language Learning (MLL): Prosodic and Gestural Integration in Pragmatic and Phonological Development.” - Generalitat de Catalunya: 2017 SGR_971 - Generalitat de Catalunya, Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca: 2019FI_B2_00125 - Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health: P01HD040605

L2 vocabulary teaching by social robots: the role of gestures and on-screen cues as scaffolds

Social robots are receiving an ever-increasing interest in popular media and scientific literature. Yet, empirical investigation on the use of social robots in education remains limited. In two studies, we examined the effectiveness of a social robot in second language (L2) education, specifically in teaching English measurement terms (e.g., big, wide) to Turkish-speaking 5-year-olds (n=72). We also compared two scaffolding techniques in evaluating the effectiveness of the robot tutor: co-speech hand gestures and on-screen cues. In all conditions, children successfully learned the new L2 words from the robot tutor. However, the effectiveness of the tutor was higher when teaching was supported by on-screen cues that directed children’s attention to the referents of target words, compared to when the robot performed co-speech hand gestures representing the target words (iconic gestures) or pointing at the referents (deictic gestures). The type of gesture (iconic versus deictic) did not significantly influence learning. Findings were replicated with a human tutor. Findings contribute to theoretical and practical discussions on the potential of social robots in education

Resilience in mathematics after early brain injury: The roles of parental input and early plasticity

Children with early focal unilateral brain injury show remarkable plasticity in language development. However, little is known about how early brain injury influences mathematical learning. Here, we examine early number understanding, comparing cardinal number knowledge of typically developing children (TD) and children with pre- and perinatal lesions (BI) between 42 and 50 months of age. We also examine how this knowledge relates to the number words children hear from their primary caregivers early in life. We find that children with BI, are, on average, slightly behind TD children in both cardinal number knowledge and later mathematical performance, and show slightly slower learning rates than TD children in cardinal number knowledge during the preschool years. We also find that parents’ “number talk” to their toddlers predicts later mathematical ability for both TD children and children with BI. These findings suggest a relatively optimistic story in which neural plasticity is at play in children’s mathematical development following early brain injury. Further, the effects of early number input suggest that intervening to enrich the number talk that children with BI hear during the preschool years could narrow the math achievement gap. Keywords: Plasticity, Early unilateral brain injury, Mathematical skill, Cardinality, Parent inpu

L2 vocabulary teaching by social robots: the role of gestures and on-screen cues as scaffolds

Social robots are receiving an ever-increasing interest in popular media and scientific literature. Yet, empirical investigation on the use of social robots in education remains limited. In two studies, we examined the effectiveness of a social robot in second language (L2) education, specifically in teaching English measurement terms (e.g., big, wide) to Turkish-speaking 5-year-olds (n=72). We also compared two scaffolding techniques in evaluating the effectiveness of the robot tutor: co-speech hand gestures and on-screen cues. In all conditions, children successfully learned the new L2 words from the robot tutor. However, the effectiveness of the tutor was higher when teaching was supported by on-screen cues that directed children’s attention to the referents of target words, compared to when the robot performed co-speech hand gestures representing the target words (iconic gestures) or pointing at the referents (deictic gestures). The type of gesture (iconic versus deictic) did not significantly influence learning. Findings were replicated with a human tutor. Findings contribute to theoretical and practical discussions on the potential of social robots in education

Language development and brain reorganization in a child born without the left hemisphere

We present a case of a 14-year-old girl born without the left hemisphere due to prenatal left internal carotid occlusion. We combined longitudinal language and cognitive assessments with functional and structural neuroimaging data to situate the case within age-matched, typically developing children. Despite having had a delay in getting language off the ground during the preschool years, our case performed within the normal range on a variety of standardized language tests, and exceptionally well on phonology and word reading, during the elementary and middle school years. Moreover, her spatial, number, and reasoning skills also fell in the average to above-average range based on assessments during these time periods. Functional MRI data revealed activation in right fronto-temporal areas when listening to short stories, resembling the bilateral activation patterns in age-matched typically developing children. Diffusion MRI data showed significantly larger dorsal white matter association tracts (the direct and anterior segments of the arcuate fasciculus) connecting areas active during language processing in her remaining right hemisphere, compared to either hemisphere in control children. We hypothesize that these changes in functional and structural brain organization are the result of compensatory brain plasticity, manifesting in unusually large right dorsal tracts, and exceptional performance in phonology, speech repetition, and decoding. More specifically, we posit that our case's large white matter connections might have played a compensatory role by providing fast and reliable transfer of information between cortical areas for language in the right hemisphere