Enhancing the language development of toddlers in foster care by promoting foster parents’ sensitivity: results from a randomized controlled trial.
Open accessAbstract
Young children in foster care are at increased risk for problematic language development, making early intervention a critical tool in enhancing these children's foundational language abilities. This study examined the efficacy of an early preventative intervention, Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up for Toddlers (ABC-T), in improving the receptive vocabulary abilities of toddlers placed in foster care. All the children had been removed from their biological parents' care and placed into foster care. When children were between 24 and 36 months old, foster parents were contacted by research staff and consented to participate. Parents were randomly assigned using a random number generator to receive either ABC-T (n = 45), which aimed to promote sensitive parenting for children who have experienced early adversity, or a control intervention (n = 43). Foster children's receptive vocabulary skills were assessed post-intervention using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Third Edition, when children were between 36 and 60 months old. Children whose foster parents received ABC-T demonstrated more advanced receptive vocabulary abilities than children whose foster parents received the control intervention. The positive effect of ABC-T on foster children's receptive vocabulary was mediated by increases in foster parents' sensitivity during parent-child interactions. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01261806.
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Training sensitive responsiveness in parents improves the language development of children.
“Sensitive responsiveness is a modi fi able risk factor that has been successfully trained in parents in randomized controlled trials and shown to improve the language development of children.”
From Parenting Behavior and Child Language: A Meta-analysis. (2019) · cites this paper as [93]
The Discussion (page not supplied) reports that training foster parents to interact sensitively with their toddlers improved the children’s receptive vocabulary. The claim generalizes this finding to parents and children broadly, and to language development beyond the receptive-vocabulary outcome measured in the trial. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredConclusions about causality can only be made in the context of experimental studies.
“Conclusions about causality can only be made in the context of experimental studies, 58,91 -93 and approximations of causality may be derived from longitudinal designs that address directionality and temporal precedence. 94”
From Parenting Behavior and Child Language: A Meta-analysis. (2019) · cites this paper as [93]
The Method (Procedure; page unavailable) describes a randomized controlled trial, and the Discussion (page unavailable) says its findings offer rigorous support for a causal influence of parental sensitivity on language development. This supports the use of an experiment to draw a causal conclusion, but the paper does not say that causal conclusions can *only* be made in experimental studies. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSensitive responsiveness is a modifiable risk factor.
“Sensitive responsiveness is a modi fi able risk factor that has been successfully trained in parents in randomized controlled trials and shown to improve the language development of children.”
From Parenting Behavior and Child Language: A Meta-analysis. (2019) · cites this paper as [93]
Sensitive responsiveness has been successfully trained in parents in randomized controlled trials.
“Sensitive responsiveness is a modi fi able risk factor that has been successfully trained in parents in randomized controlled trials and shown to improve the language development of children.”
From Parenting Behavior and Child Language: A Meta-analysis. (2019) · cites this paper as [93]
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“102,103 93 Thus, the demonstration of a signi fi cant association between sensitive responsiveness and children ’ s language coupled with the evidence from randomized controlled trials on improving parental responsiveness suggests the importance of addressing this skill in parents, particularly in…”
Background
- Authors
- Raby, K. L., Freedman, E., Yarger, H. A., Lind, T., & Dozier, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Utah (US)
- University of Delaware (US)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Corresponding author
- Raby, Kenneth Lee
- Venue
- Developmental Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018-10-03
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- e12753-e12753
- ISSN
- 1363-755X (ISSN-L)
- 1467-7687
- PMC
- PMC6716063
- OpenAlex
- W2892150071
- Cited by
- 67
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 12.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Developmental Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Mental Health (R01MH052135)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- foster care, toddlers, language development, receptive vocabulary, parental sensitivity, early intervention, childhood adversity, parent-child interaction, preventive interventions
- MeSH terms
- Child, Foster, Child, Preschool, Female, Foster Home Care, Humans, Infant, Language Development, Male, Parent-Child Relations, Parents, Vocabulary, Parenting, Early Intervention, Educational
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