Early communication and social-emotional skills play a critical role in children's development (Kaiser & Hester, 1994; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). Social-communication and emotional development are closely related and also influence subsequent academic achievement (Fujiki, Brinton, & Todd, 1996; Van Daal, Verhoeven, & van Balkom, 2007). Behavior problems often accompany language delays in preschool-aged children (Qi & Kaiser, 2004). Brinton and her colleagues found, for example, that children with language delays had a difficult time entering ongoing conversations and, even when they participated in a conversation, they talked and cooperated less compared with their typically developing peers (Brinton, Fujiki, Spencer, & Robinson, 1997). Difficulties such as these can reduce opportunities for children to engage in social interactions, which in turn can weaken their language and social competence (Robertson & Weismer, 1999). Children's communication skill not only lays the groundwork for their later social development but also influences their achievement in academic areas when they enter school (Dickinson & Tabors, 1991; Walker, Greenwood, Hart, & Carta, 1994). Communication difficulties are pervasive in young children who receive services under the Individuals With 426486T EC33110.

In 2013, Spencer, Goldstein, Sherman, et al. reported the promising effects of a supplemental, technology-assisted, storybook intervention (Tier 2) containing embedded instruction targeting the oral language learning of preschool children at risk for delays. We sought to advance knowledge of the intervention by replicating it in a new sample and examining children's responses to the narrator's instructional prompts and associations with learning outcomes. Results indicated that children were highly successful in responding with the narrator's taskmanagement prompts (i.e., turn the page), particularly after the first book. Children were much less proficient in correctly responding to the narrator's word-teaching prompts (i.e., "say enormous"), but improved over additional storybooks. Exposure to the intervention accelerated children's weekly oral language learning, and effect sizes were comparable to those of Spencer et al. Children's increased word knowledge was positively correlated with their correct responding to the narrator's word-teaching prompts in particular. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Background: The use of health care services is influenced by various factors, including demographic, social, economic, and health status factors. This study aimed to identify the factors that influence health care use in health insurance subscribers and medical aid beneficiaries in Korea. Methods: A total of 11,793 subjects were identified, including 10,838 health insurance subscribers and 955 medical aid beneficiaries, using the Korea Welfare Panel Study database. The data were analysed by percentage, t-test, and multiple regression using SPSS 20.0. Results: Medical aid beneficiaries had 13.51 more days of outpatient visits and 8.38 more days of hospitalization compared with health insurance subscribers. Factors affecting the frequency of outpatient visits for health insurance subscribers were gender, age, household type, education level, income level, administrative district, perceived health status, chronic disease, and disability. These factors accounted for 19.8% of explanation (p < .001). Whereas, gender, household type, administrative district, perceived health status, and chronic disease were identified as factors influencing outpatient frequency for medical aid beneficiaries. These factors accounted for 11.2% of explanation (p < .001). For health insurance subscribers, factors affecting the length of hospitalization were gender, public pension status, place of residence, administrative district, economic activity, income level, perceived health status, and disability status. These factors accounted for 7.2% of explanation (p < .001). While, factors affecting the length of hospitalization for medical aid beneficiaries were accounted for by 3.4% (p < .001). Gender and perceived health status were identified as factors influencing the length of hospitalization of medical aid beneficiaries. Conclusions: There were differences between medical aid beneficiaries and health insurance subscribers in health care use and influencing factors. Future management programs should take into consideration the specific factors that influence the use of health care services in health insurance subscribers and medical aid beneficiaries.

A tenet of the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is that even evidence-based interventions will not be effective with all children. We examined preschool children’s response to a supplemental literacy intervention ( Story Friends) in two classrooms. Children with weak vocabulary skills were identified and received the intervention. The extremes in children’s response to Story Friends ranged from highly effective to very ineffective. In one classroom, three children who were not responsive to Story Friends received additional intervention components. Two of these children acquired new vocabulary words at rates comparable to highly responsive peers receiving Story Friends only, and greater than peers in both classrooms not receiving additional support. The third child was dropped due to refusal to attend sessions. Children’s lack of learning the control words demonstrated that their progress on the taught words was not due simply to listening to the words read in the stories.

Vocabulary plays a critical role in later reading achievement of emergent bilingual children (EBC) who are learning two languages. Given emerging vocabulary intervention research for EBC, we synthesize studies on vocabulary interventions designed for preschool and kindergarten EBC to provide the cumulative knowledge on the following dimensions: (a) EBC’s characteristics, (b) features of selected target words and books, (c) critical components of vocabulary interventions, and (d) the overall effectiveness of the interventions as reflected by the percentage of studies reporting a significant increase on proximal measures of EBC’s target words. Through a systematic search, we identified 19 articles using experimental or quasi-experimental designs. Overall, EBC increased their knowledge of words taught through vocabulary instruction, and the use of bilingual or family heritage instructional language increased EBC’s vocabulary knowledge in both languages.