Research seminar in linguistics: Linda Forssman

Title: The impact of interactive book-sharing on child developmental outcomes and potential mechanisms

Linda Forssman is researcher in developmental psychology at Uppsala Child and BabyLab.

About Linda Forssman

Photo by Uppsala University

Abstract

One often advocated parental practice for promoting child cognition and literacy development is the sharing of picture- and storybooks. Book-sharing interventions (BSIs) directed to parents have been shown to improve children’s language development. Arguably, BSIs constitutes a powerful learning context because: (i) the child gets exposed to new vocabulary; (ii) it contains prolonged periods of parent-child joint attention interactions; and (iii), it supports parental scaffolding techniques. To date, there is little evidence regarding the effects of interactive book-sharing on child development beyond the language domain and few studies have examined the potential mechanisms responsible for intervention effects in studies on interactive book-sharing.

In this talk I will present preliminary outcomes from the REaL-trial (ISRCTN22319305). The REaL-trial is a randomized controlled study designed to evaluate the effect of a 5-week book-sharing intervention for caregivers of 10-month-old children. Participating parent-infant dyads (n = 115) have been randomized to an intervention group or an active control group. The intervention has been delivered weekly for five consecutive weeks to groups of ¬~5 parent-child dyads. We have collected data on child language and cognitive outcomes as well as caregiver competence during social interactions at baseline and post-assessments.

– Linda Forssman

Contact

Welcome to contact us if you have questions about our seminars.
If you need a sign language interpreter, please let us know in advance.

Anna Sjöberg, PhD student
anna.sjoberg@ling.su.se

Carla Wikse Barrow, PhD student
carla.w.barrow@ling.su.se