Communication skill training in child care: The effects of preservice and inservice training

Early Child Development and Care

Cain

Saxon

2008

This study examined effects of professional development for child-care staff on language acquisition of children ages 14-36 months. Child-care staff from 44 child-care centres agreed to participate in the study. Child-care staff from one-half of the child-care centres were randomly assigned to a onetime, four-hour workshop followed by three classroom visits over the subsequent three months. This treatment was designed to increase frequency and quality of joint attention episodes between the child-care staff and the toddlers. Child-care staff from the remaining 22 centres were assigned to a wait-list control group. Toddlers (N = 121) in both the groups (n treatment = 64; n control = 57) were assessed with a measure of language acquisition after six months. While there were no significant differences on total language acquisition between groups, treatment group toddlers whose child-care providers engaged in more frequent and longer bouts of joint attention acquired more language. The results of this study support that when child-care staff engage in longer and higher quality bouts of joint attention with toddlers they can affect language acquisition.

Section: Mitigating Factors Influencing Developmentmentioning

confidence: 93%

Does improving joint attention in low‐quality child‐care enhance language development?

Early Child Development and Care

Cain

Saxon

2008

“…In turn, these children had more advanced language skills. Although relatively few well-controlled empirical studies of in-service training have been conducted, Collins et al (1987) found that child caregivers' overall communication skills improved with training.…”

Section: Caregiver Training and Educationmentioning

confidence: 94%

Professional Development + Coaching = Enhanced Teaching: Increasing Usage of Math Mediated Language in Preschool Classrooms

Lambert

Satterwhite

et al. 2009

Early Childhood Educ J

In an effort to determine the most efficacious manner to deliver professional development training to early childhood educators, this study investigated the effect of a 2-h workshop followed by side-by-side classroom coaching. Twelve early childhood educators with 4-year degrees teaching in a university child development center participated in the study. The twice weekly classroom observations were analyzed for the use of math mediated language. Results indicate a 56% increase of math mediated language following the professional development; however, the greatest increase (39% increase over professional development condition) occurred during the side-by-side coaching phase of the treatment. These results corroborate previous findings that implementation of teaching strategies presented in professional development trainings can be enhanced by coaching teachers on the use of the strategies.

“…The findings suggest that those childcare providers who engaged in the most formal and informal training were rated highest on 'sensitivity to children' and for providing higher quality care. Moreover, formal training for childcare providers has been found to increase caregivers' communication skills and involvement with children (Kaplan & Conn, 1984;Collins et al, 1987), while decreasing the use of authoritarian methods to control children (Arnett, 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Effects of professional development training on joint attention engagement in low‐quality childcare centers

Cain

Early Child Development and Care

Saxon

2007

This study carries forward the exploration of joint attention engagement in children from 18 to 24 months of age enrolled in 'low-quality' childcare centers. Childcare providers and children were videotaped to capture social interactions in the classroom including duration and bids for joint attention. One-half of 48 childcare providers were randomly assigned to receive professional development training (PDT) (the Focus-Follow-Talk ® technique) designed to increase the frequency of joint attention. Three months after the PDT and three coaching visits for each subject in the treatment group, 30 minutes of videotape was recorded and coded for each childcare provider in the treatment and control groups. Significant findings were reported for the trained childcare providers on joint attention engagement duration and total bids for joint attention engagement. There was also evidence supportive of joint attention subtypes.