We compared growth in the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test between children with disabilities and children without disabilities in Educare Central Maine, a highly resourced data-driven Birth-5 early care and education program that targets children at risk of school failure because of socioeconomic factors. Children with disabilities made up 13% of enrollment. Children with disabilities tended to catch up with the typically developing children as they spent more time in Educare.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ccids_posters/1007/thumbnail.jp

Cobo-Lewis, Alan B

English

University of Maine

The University of MaineDigitalCommons@UMainePoster Presentations Center for Community Inclusion and DisabilityStudies11-2017Picture vocabulary growth in students with andwithout disabilities in an early childhood programthat targets poor familiesAlan B. Cobo-LewisUniversity of MaineFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ccids_postersPart of the Early Childhood Education Commons, and the Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood,Kindergarten Teacher Education CommonsThis Poster is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Poster Presentations by anauthorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact um.library.technical.services@maine.edu.Recommended CitationCobo-Lewis, A. B. (2017, November). Picture vocabulary growth in students with and without disabilities in an early childhoodprogram that targets poor families (PDF). Peer-reviewed poster presentation at the 2017 Association of University Centers onDisabilities (AUCD) Conference, Washington, DC.Picture vocabulary growth in students with and without disabilities in an early childhood program that targets poor familiesAlan B. Cobo-LewisCenter for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies and Department of PsychologyUniversity of MainePurposeTo test the effectiveness for children with disabilities of a highly resourced data-driven Birth-5 early care and education program that targets children at risk of school failure because of socioeconomic factors.BackgroundEducare Central Maine is a partnership between the Waterville, ME, public schools, Kennebec Valley (ME) Community Action Program Early/Head Start, and the philanthropic community. The Educare Learning Network is a partnership between the Ounce of Prevention Fund, the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, other national philanthropies, and public-private partners in more than a dozen states across America.Educare Central Maine serves children from birth till kindergarten entry.The 21 schools in the Educare Learning Network seek to close the achievement gap for children from families at risk because of socioeconomic factors. The Educare model is based on research from early childhood development, education, social work, and other allied fields. Four core features compose the Educare model: data utilization, embedded professional development, high-quality teaching practices, and intensive family engagement.Some families, whose income is over the eligibility threshold, tuition their children to Educare Central Maine. Figure 1. A child at Educare Central Maine. See  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkZXatJeZEo&list=PLHAnNxoFzX20bePE1JFZh61qmwj3-2PZ1&index=1&t=1m34sMethodsWe administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-4) to children at Educare Central Maine at age 3, the fall of their first year in Head Start (unless that was within 6 months of their age-3 assessment date), and every spring thereafter. We analyzed PPVT-4 standard scores with linear mixed models with censoring (Vaida & Liu, 2012). (Random effect: child. Fixed effects: presence of IFSP/IEP, income classification, gender, years in Educare, and the interactions of years in Educare with the other fixed effects). Censoring was imposed for standard scores < 65 in order to accommodate 7 very low PPVT scores (0.8% of sample).We also used survival analysis to determine median ages that children entered and exited Educare and median duration they were enrolled.Analyses covered seven school years (2010-11 through 2016-17).ResultsTable 1 presents demographic information about the sample.Table 1. Demographic information About Sample of Children with PPVT-4 Scores.#Children %Total 323 100Disability StatusNo Disability Plan 283 88IFSP/IEP 40 12GenderFemale 150 46Male 173 54RaceWhite 279 86Biracial/multiracial 37 11Black/African-American 4 1Asian 2 1American Indian/Native American 1 0EthnicityNot Hispanic/Latine 308 95Hispanic or Latine 15 5Primary LanguageEnglish 322 98Other 1 0There were 910 PPVT-4 assessments contributing to the analysis (2.8 data points per child). Figure 2’s spaghetti plot shows PPVT-4 standard score vs months in Educare, gender, income status, and disability status. Horizontal lines on these plots would represent age-appropriate gains. Positive slopes represent gains that are faster than expected based on chronological age.Table 2 presents coefficient table from censored linear mixed models with interactions. Because interactions were not significant (x2(3) = 1.56, p = .67), model was re-fit without interactions (results also in Table 2).Table 2. Coefficient table from censored linear mixed models fit to Figure 2’s PPVT-4 data. Intercept refers to PPVT-4 score at entry (0 months) for income-eligible girl with IFSP/IEP. *p < .05.Interactions No InteractionsFixed Effect Coef SE z Coef SE z(Intercept) 91.33 2.23 40.94* 93.06 1.78 52.39*Months in Educare 0.31 0.10 3.18* 0.19 0.03 6.07*No Disability Plan 14.26 2.19 6.52* 12.26 1.67 7.34*Over-income 9.04 2.30 3.94* 7.64 1.71 4.47*Male -3.45 1.44 -2.40* -3.07 1.10 -2.78*Months x No Disability Plan -0.13 0.09 -1.41* Months x Over-income -0.08 0.08 -0.90* Months x Male 0.02 0.06 0.36*Random EffectSD(Child) 8.48 8.50SD(Residual 7.64 7.65Figure 2. Spaghetti plot of PPVT-4 standard score vs months in Educare, by gender, income status, and disability status. Data are redacted from small-n panel (lower left: over-income children with IFSP/IEP) in order to protect privacy. Each strand of spaghetti (thin lines) represents data from a single child. Heavy lines and ribbons represent predicted scores (fixed effects) and 95% confidence intervals from Table 2’s censored linear mixed model with interactions.Survival analyses considered entrance and exit dates from 441 children (including children still too young to have had their first PPVT-4 assessment at time of analysis). Table 3 shows key results from these analyses. While median age at exit was just over 5 years old, and some children entered at less than 1 month old, the median age at entry was 33 months old (shortly before the transition from Early Head Start to Head Start). Thus, while nominal maximum time in Educare was 5 years, the median time in Educare was just under 2 years.Table 3. Median age at entry, time in Educare, and age at exit, by disability status.Median in MonthsGroupAge at EntryTime in EducareAge at ExitAll Children 33.7 21.4 60.5Children with IFSP/IEP 32.6 23.6 61.7Children without Disability Plan 33.7 21.2 60.4Figure 3 summarizes predicted PPVT-4 scores for a 50:50 mix of girls and boys, by months in Educare, income, and disability status.Figure 3. Predicted standardized PPVT-4 scores and confidence intervals, by months in Educare, income, and disability status, for Table 2’s model with interactions. Predictions average over gender, for 50:50 mix of girls and boys. Dashed portion of income-eligible IFSP/IEP line represents the region based on very sparse data.To summarize results at key landmarks:• Children gain an average of 0.19 points per month (2.3 points per year) in standardized score.• The rate of gain for children IFSP/IEPs is at least as fast as the rate of gain for children without disabilities.• At median time in Educare (21.4 months), children have gained an average of 4.1 standard PPVT-4 points.• At 36 months in Educare, children have gained an average of 7.0 standard PPVT-4 points.• At the nominal maximum of 60 months in Educare, children have gained an average of 11.6 standard PPVT-4 points.• For children without disabilities, this estimate is fairly reliable.• However, because the sample includes very few PPVT-4 assessments from children with disabilities when time in Educare exceeded 36 months, this is essentially an extrapolation for children with disabilities.DiscussionIn a highly resourced Birth-5 program for children at risk, children with IFSP/IEPs gain vocabulary scores at least as fast as children without disabilities.Connection to Conference Theme (“Lift Your Voice!”)Educare serves as a demonstration program and a platform for research and policy change. Parent involvement is a core component of the model. Parents are involved in program aspects and in policy implications, as they choose. For example, this year, a parent of a child with special needs testified to the state legislature against proposed cuts to the state-funded portion of Head Start programs and cited her child’s progress at Educare.ReferenceVaida, F., & Liu, L., (2012). lmec: linear mixed-effects models with censored responses. R package version 1.0. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=lmec AcknowledgementsSupported by research and evaluation contract from Educare Central Maine, Waterville, ME.In addition, University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, Maine’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental  Disabilities (UCEDD), is sponsored by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living, Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (grant 90 DD 0005). Project Officer: Pamela O’Brien, Program Specialist. Principal Investigator: Alan B. Cobo-Lewis, Ph.D., UCEDD Director.70851001151300 12 24 36 48 60months in EducarePPVT−4 Standard Scoreover−income, No Disability Planincome−eligible, No Disability Planincome−eligible, IFSP/IEPPoster presented November 6, 2017, at annual meeting of Association for University Centers on Disabilities, Washington, D.C.IFSP/IEP No Disability Planincome−eligibleover−income0 12 24 36 48 60 0 12 24 36 48 6070851001151307085100115130months in EducarePPVT−4 Standard ScoreGenderFM

Picture vocabulary growth in students with and without disabilities in an early childhood program that targets poor families

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Picture vocabulary growth in students with and without disabilities in an early childhood program that targets poor families

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