Can digital parenting interventions benefit early language development?

This project will explore whether a light-touch digital parenting programme can support young children’s language development before school entry. 

Why is this important?

Language skills are fundamental for children’s capacity to learn and flourish at school and beyond. Differences between more and less socio-economically advantaged children are seen as young as 18-months old. This gap widens with age, putting children from less privileged backgrounds at a disadvantage before they start school.  

What does it involve?

The research team will test whether a light-touch, home-based digital intervention can mitigate the effects of socio-economic disadvantage on language development during two critical developmental periods: infancy and toddlerhood. The intervention consists of a series of short videos produced by BBC Education’s Tiny Happy People Initiative, which demonstrate how caregivers can support language development through talking in developmentally appropriate ways.  

The intervention will be tested with the different age groups of children, in parallel, with the aim of: 

• Establishing whether the intervention promoted developmentally-appropriate linguistic responsiveness in caregivers, by collecting videos of caregiver-child interactions pre- and post-intervention.  
• Measuring whether the intervention was effective in promoting child language development, assessed through a composite score using caregiver reports, standardised language assessments, and naturalistic measures. 
• Investigating if any gains were due to causal effects of caregiver responsiveness on language learning during two developmentally critical time periods.  

Secondary analysis will explore the impact of multilingualism and health and demographic risk factors. Questionnaires and focus groups will gather caregiver perspectives and gauge mental health. 

How will it make a difference?  

Completion of the research will help demonstrate the potential of a personalised-intensity digital service to support decision making by practitioners, commissioners of services, and policymakers. Findings will be shared in a public report and academic articles. Specific outputs will be developed to reach different audiences, which includes policymakers, practitioners, families, and academics.