Contact:
Peggy Shaw
615-322-NEWS (6397)
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New Program Helps 'Late-Talking' Children
A new program housed in the Vanderbilt-Bill Wilkerson Center and the Kennedy Center for Research in Human Development at Vanderbilt University helps children who lag behind their peers in talking.
Most children are using words by age two. However, as many as two to five percent of children are "late-talking." The Child Language Intervention Program, funded by a $4.5 million program project grant from the National Institutes of Health, and by funding from the Scottish Rite Masons of Nashville, provides screenings, consultations and intervention for children who have communication disorders.
"If a child qualifies for services, the family pays nothing for the intervention," said Project Director Stephen M. Camarata, associate professor of speech and hearing sciences and special education.
The purpose of the project is to study the efficacy of various language intervention programs used to treat children with language impairment. "The wonderful thing about the program project grant is that we're able to provide direct services to families," Camarata said. At the same time, the program will add important information to the body of knowledge on language development and learning theory.
The intervention techniques used at the center parallel how children learn in their natural environments with enhancements appropriate to the child's developmental level, Camarata said. The average developing child can often learn a new word in one or two presentations. A late-talking child can acquire a new word in the same setting but may need 50 or 100 presentations.
"Children who are late talking can learn. But intervention needs to be tailored to their individual learning styles," Camarata said. "We can increase the rate of learning. But no approach works with everyone. All children seem to have an optimal learning style."
"We don't see any evidence that parents are causing the late talking," he said. This is an important point the researchers convey to parents as guilt can negatively affect parent-child interactions. Part of the program also provides in-home parent training so parents can implement some of the same techniques the researchers use.
The program, which has three clinics, has been designated the National Center for the Study of Language Intervention by the National Institutes of Health, Division of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. In addition to Camarata, four other Vanderbilt researchers are involved in the project. Paul Yoder, research associate professor of special education, serves as the principal investigator for the Teaching Articulation and Grammar clinic with Steven F. Warren, a professor of special education and psychology at Peabody, as co-principal investigator. Ann P. Kaiser, professor of special education and psychology at Peabody, is principal investigator for the Milieu Teaching Project. Camarata is principal investigator for the Teaching Expressive Language clinic. His co-principal investigator is Keith E. Nelson, who teaches psychology at Pennsylvania State University.
The program grew out of meeting between the collaborators in 1990. The program is unique in that it draws from several different fields, including special education, learning, speech, cognitive psychology and behavioral psychology, Camarata said.
"Each person had pieces that the others needed," he said. "None of us could have done the project alone."
The researchers have established that they can increase the rates of learning for late-talking children. The next step is finding out how neural development is affected, Camarata said. "That's the next question we wish to study."
The grant runs for five years, during which time the program will provide direct services to between 250 and 300 children, Camarata estimated. Almost all of the children who receive direct intervention services are from the area. However, Camarata also is in contact with over 100 parents with late-talking children around the country. Parents from as far away as California, Nebraska and Rhode Island have brought their children to Nashville for diagnostic testing.
For more information on the program, please contact the Child Language Intervention Program office at 936-5125.
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