Duet 2.0: Starting the Conversation: A New Intervention Model to Stimulate Language Growth in Underserved Populations

Objectives and Background

The purpose of this study is to determine whether Duet 2.0- a light-touch, public health model of remote intervention delivery 1) increases caregiver knowledge about children's language development, 2) improves caregiver-child language interaction quantity and quality, and 3) enhances children's language skills. It is hypothesized that dyads who receive the Duet 2.0 intervention will make greater gains in knowledge of child development, early interaction quality, and child language skills than the delayed-access control group. Secondary analyses will be conducted to examine if and how parent (e.g., self-efficacy) and child (e.g., child language abilities) characteristics relate to each other, baseline measures, and treatment outcomes.

Early language skills are fundamental to language, cognitive, and socioemotional development and are the single best predictors of later academic success. Caregiver-child language interactions in the first three years of life not only predict early language development, but also influence school readiness skills and academic achievement. High-quality early language interactions are characterized by rich and diverse vocabulary, responsive talk (i.e., language following the child's attention), decontextualized language (e.g., language beyond the here and now context, "Remember we went to a party last night"), communication foundation (e.g., use of verbal and gestural symbols, engaging in back-and-forth conversations), and question use. In fact, early reading outcomes are particularly contingent on strong language skills that go beyond and accompany strong decoding skills.

Despite the importance of these factors, there are large disparities in the frequency and quality of children's early language interactions. Although there is great within-group variability, children from low-income families on average have fewer and lower-quality language experiences than their middle- or high-income peers. Early disparities in language experiences can lead to gaps in language skills and academic achievement that persist into adulthood.

Duet 2.0 will adopt an innovative and scalable approach-remote delivery and coaching. This design reflects arguably the strongest evidence for successful intervention. Remote coaching and telehealth are becoming accepted models for public health intervention in domains like nutrition, fitness, heart health, and diabetes. There is also growing support for remote delivery parent and teacher training programs. For instance, remote coaching has effectively improved Head Start teachers' language and literacy practices. This intervention model has also been used successfully to promote mental health in parents of infants, train parents in domains such as child socioemotional development, and support language and communication in young children with autism.