How closing the ‘word gap’ could give poorer kids an equal chance at success

Interesting and positive initiative:

That realization [that children in richer households were exposed to a whopping 30 million more words by age 3 than their low-income counterparts] inspired two projects recently launched by Eriks-Brophy, now an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Speech Pathology, and PhD candidate Hillary Ganek.

Like the Providence initiative, the researchers are making use of LENA technology. But they’re aiming to recruit Toronto-based families of varied backgrounds, to expand the scope of the discussion beyond just income level.

They also want to look at the influence of culture in how parents talk to their kids. It will be the first time LENA has been used to explore the topic.

While both acknowledge income level plays a role in children’s development, Eriks-Brophy and Ganek say framing the issue as a “gap” might be the wrong approach.

Ultimately, they hope their research will help speech pathologists and schools be more responsive to cultural variations in language learning, which Eriks-Brophy argues often gives minority children their own unique set of skills.

“It’s not necessarily the case that it’s a (word) deficit or there’s a problem. It’s a difference. And that has to be acknowledged as well.”

WHEN DR. RIPUDAMAN S. MINHAS treats families in the city’s low-income Regent Park neighbourhood, he asks some unusual questions.

In addition to inquiring about kids’ allergies and immunizations, he wants to know how many books parents have at home. He wants to know if they have a library card, and how much they sing to their children.

“The idea of this 30-million-word gap really rings true,” he says. “Because it’s something that we see every day.”

Minhas’s medical interest in words is an approach endorsed by the country’s top children’s health body. Although there is no specifically Canadian research on the effects of the “word gap,” the Canadian Paediatric Society calls low literacy a “severe and pervasive” national problem.

New programs, such as St. Michael’s Hospital’s Reach Out and Read initiative are taking this to heart. Minhas, a developmental pediatrician affiliated with the hospital, is now also embarking on research into how inner-city families can be supported in creating “linguistically rich” homes.

How closing the ‘word gap’ could give poorer kids an equal chance at success | Toronto Star.