Runninghead:ACRITICALEVALUATIONOFTHEPROVIDENCETALKSINTERVENTION

ACriticalEvaluationoftheProvidenceTalksIntervention
BenjaminC.Anderson
StanfordUniversity

ACRITICALEVALUATIONOFTHEPROVIDENCETALKSINTERVENTION

Bythetimechildrenarriveattheirfirstdayofkindergarten,variousfactors,including
homeenvironment,havealreadycreatedanenormousriftbetweenthechildrenmostequippedto
succeedandthosewhoaresetuptofail.Oneofthemosttellingmanifestationsofthis
achievementgapisawidedisparityinvocabularylinkedtosocioeconomicstatus.Thecityof
Providencehastackledthisproblemheadon,throughaninterventiontargetingthelinguistic
environmentsofdisadvantagedchildrenandtheirparents.Thisintervention,knownas
ProvidenceTalks,aimstoprovideparentswiththeknowledge,skills,andincentivestotalkmore
totheirchildren,andtotalkmoreeffectively.Byconnectingparentswithexperienced
caseworkers,coachingthemoninteractingwiththeirchildren,andprovidingtechnologyto
measureprogress,ProvidenceTalksseekstoenhanceearlyexperienceswithlanguageand
improvelateroutcomes.Althoughmereexposuretolanguagepredictsthegrowthofvocabulary
andsyntaxinchildren,developmentisenhancedbyexposureinspecificcontextsandthrough
meaningfulinteractions.ProvidenceTalksmaysucceedinclosingthevocabularygapand
preparingchildrentosucceedbecauseittargetsbothquantityandqualityoflanguageexposure,
althoughthesegainscouldbeimprovedandsustainedbyextendingtheinterventiontoolder
children.
ProvidenceTalksisdesignedtoencouragelowincomeparentstotalkwiththeirchildren
moreoften.Thisisimportantbecauseoftheobservedrelationshipbetweenamountoflanguage
towhichchildrenareexposedandthesizeoftheirvocabularies.Astudyconductedby
Huttenlocheretal.in1991observed1416montholdsoveraperiodof810monthsduring
normaldailyactivities.Childrenwithlargervocabulariesuseawidervarietyofthewords,sothe
ratioofnumberofdifferentwords(types)tothetotalnumberofwordsspoken(tokens)wasused

ACRITICALEVALUATIONOFTHEPROVIDENCETALKSINTERVENTION

asameasureofvocabularysize.Thestudyfoundthatthegrowthofachildsvocabularywas
predictedbythesheeramountofspeechdirectedatthechild,especiallyduringtheperiodfrom
2024months(Huttenlocher,Haight,Bryk,Seltzer,&Lyons,1991).Theseconclusionsimply
thattheobservedvocabularygapcouldbeamelioratedbyencouragingparentstotalkmorewith
theirchildren,whichisexactlywhatProvidenceTalksseekstodo.
AstudyconductedbyWeislederandFernaldin2013exploresapossiblecausal
mechanismfortherelationshipbetweenlanguageexposureandvocabularygrowth.Inthisstudy,
Spanishlearning19montholdswereequippedwithunobtrusiverecordingequipmenttorecord
thespeechofatypicalday.Therecordingswereanalyzedwithsoftwaretoestimatevarious
componentsofthelanguageenvironment,suchaschildvocalizationsandamountofparentword
speech.Childvocabularywasmeasuredwithaninventorytakenbytheparent,andthechilds
languageprocessingcapabilitywasmeasuredbyalookingwhilelisteningtask,whereinfants
sawtwoimagesandafamiliarspokenwordthatmatchedoneofthem.Theproportionoftime
infantsspentlookingatthecorrectimagewasusedasameasureoftheirabilitytoprocessthe
spokenlanguage.WeislederandFernaldfoundasimilarrelationshipbetweenlanguageexposure
andvocabularygrowth,butalsofoundthatexposuretochilddirectedspeechwasreliably
correlatedwithgrowthinlanguageprocessingabilities.Evenaftercontrollingforinitial
vocabularyandprocessingabilities,gainsintheabilitytoprocessfamiliarwordswerestrongly
relatedtoexposuretolanguage.Mediationanalysisrevealedthatprocessingatleastpartly
influencesvocabularyacquisition,whichmeansthatexposingchildrentomorelanguage,as
ProvidenceTalksseekstodo,willnotonlyenlargetheirvocabularies,butwillenhancethe

ACRITICALEVALUATIONOFTHEPROVIDENCETALKSINTERVENTION

underlyingprocessingabilitiesonwhichvocabularygrowthdepends(Weisleder&Fernald,
2013).
Manyresearchershaveobservedthattheamountoflanguageexposuredoesnot
sufficientlyexplainvocabularygrowth,thatthequalityofspeechinputmattersasmuchormore
thanthesheerquantity.AstudyconductedbyCartmilletal.in2013usedinteractionsbetween
50childparentpairs,recordedathomewhentheinfantswerebetween14and18monthsofage,
tocreate40secondsilentvignettes.Adultswereaskedtoguesswhatconcretenounwasbeing
referredtointhevignettes,andtheaccuracyoftheirguesseswasusedasameasureofthe
qualityoftheparentsinput,basedontheideathatqualityinputallowsalistenertoinfer
meaningfromthesituation.Quantityofinputinwordsperminutewasalsomeasured.Then,at
54monthsofage,inventoriesweregiventomeasurechildrensvocabulary.Thestudyfoundthat
inputqualityandquantityat1418monthsweresignificantlycorrelatedwithchildrens
vocabularythreeyearslater.Quantityandqualitywerenotstronglycorrelatedwitheachotheror
overlap:parentsthattalkedmoredidnot,asagroup,provideahigherproportionofquality
input,andeachvariableaccountedforaseparatepartofthevariationinvocabularysize
(Cartmilletal.,2013).Thesefindingsimplythatwhilequantityofexposurematters,itisntany
moreimportantthanquality,theprovisionofacontextinwhichchildrencaninferthemeaning
ofaword.
ResearchbyRoyetal.in2015providesfurtherinsightintohowchildrenusetheir
environmenttolearnwords,andwhatthecomponentsofinputqualitymightbe.Thestudy
useddatafromalongitudinalcasestudyofasinglechild,focusingontheperiodfrom9to24
monthsofage.Approximately70percentofthechildswakinghourswererecorded,andspeech

ACRITICALEVALUATIONOFTHEPROVIDENCETALKSINTERVENTION

thatoccurredwithinthechildsearshotwastranscribed.Thestudyfoundthatthenumberof
timesawordwasheard,howeasyitisforachildtoproduce,anditscontextualdistinctiveness
wereallsignificantpredictorsofwhenawordwasfirstproduced.However,contextual
distinctiveness,ortheuniquenessofthespatial,temporal,andlinguisticcontextsofwherethe
wordisgenerallyproduced,wasfoundtocorrelatemorestronglywithearlyproductionthanthe
lengthofawordorhowoftenthechildheardit(Roy,Frank,DeCamp,Miller,&Roy,2015).
Thesefindingsexplainwhatitmeanstoprovideaqualitycontexttotheutteranceofaword,and
haveimplicationsforthetypesofinteractionthatmightbetteraidinlanguageacquisition.
Distinctandcoherentactivities,whetherpretendplayoreatingbreakfast,providefertileground
forvocabularyboostingconversations.
SomecriticshaveleviedthissortofresearchagainsttheProvidenceTalksintervention,
ignoringthatlanguagequalityis,infact,anotherareainwhichProvidenceTalksmightexcel.
Theinterventiondoesnotsimplyencourageparentstosaymorewordstotheirchildren.
Caseworkersalsocoachparentsonthetypeofinteractionsthataremostmeaningfulinlanguage
acquisition,providingwaysforparentsandchildrentoshareattention,urgingthemtoturnoff
thetelevision,andguidingparentstowardsalternativestojustsayingnototheirchildren.
Specificaspectsoftheinterventionweredetailedina2015NewYorkerarticlebyMargaret
Talbot,andincludeapushforparentstoturnsimpledailyinteractions,suchasgroceryshopping
orcookingdinner,intoanopportunitytohaveaconversation.Italsoencouragesparentstoread
totheirchildren,anotherimportantactivitywhereattentioncanbesharedandmeaning
communicated.ProvidenceTalks,byprovidingmeaningfulcontextsforparentchildinteraction,
willincreasethequalityoflanguageexposureaswellasthequantity(Talbot,2015).

ACRITICALEVALUATIONOFTHEPROVIDENCETALKSINTERVENTION

ThereasonthatProvidenceTalkswasapprovedinthefirstplaceisthebeliefthatearly
languagedevelopmentinfluenceslateroutcomes,anideathatmeritsinvestigation.In2008,
FernaldandMarchmanfolloweduponanearlierstudythatmeasuredthevocabularyand
languageprocessingabilitiesof25montholds.Inthisoriginalstudy,languageprocessingwas
measuredbyalookingwhilelisteningtasksimilartotheoneusedbyFernaldandWeislederin
2008.Vocabularyat25monthswasmeasuredusingaMacArthurBatesinventory.These
subjects,havingreachedeightyearsofage,returnedforfollowuptasks.Theeightyearolds
tookanIQtest,satforalanguageinventory,andcompletedworkingmemorytaskssuchasthe
digitspantask,mentallymanipulatingastringofmemorizednumbers.Accordingtoregression
analysis,thelanguageprocessingandvocabularymeasuresfrom25monthsaccounted,atage
eight,for41%ofthevarianceinexpressivelanguage,39%ofthevarianceinIQ,anda58%of
thevarianceinworkingmemory.Thesedifferentmeasureswereinterrelated:oncecontrolling
forworkingmemory,thecorrelationbetweenthemeasuresat25monthsandexpressive
vocabularyateightyearsvanished,implyingthatimprovementsvocabularycouldbeattributed
tobetterworkingmemory(Marchman&Fernald,2008).Nonetheless,thesefindingshavehuge
implicationsfortheimportanceofinterventionslikeProvidenceTalks.Theinterventionis
predicatedontheideathatimprovingearlylanguageabilitieswillincreasechildrensfuture
chancesforsuccess.AssumingIQandworkingmemoryareimportantinanacademiccontext,a
ratheruncontroversialassumption,itseemsthattargetingearlylanguageabilitiesthroughby
changingthewaychildrenandparentsinteractcouldmakearealdifferenceinacademicand
cognitiveoutcomesdowntheroad.

ACRITICALEVALUATIONOFTHEPROVIDENCETALKSINTERVENTION

AmajorhurdleforinterventionslikeProvidenceTalksissustainability.Even
welldesignedinterventionsthataresuccessfulineducatingparentsandchangingtheirbehavior
intheshorttermoftenhaveeffectsthatfizzleoutaftertheinterventionends.AstudybySuskind
etal.in2015experimentallyevaluatedhowsustainablealanguageinterventionlikeProvidence
Talksmightbe.Inthisstudy,23motherchildpairswereassignedtoeitheranexperimental
condition,whereparentsreceivedextensiveinformationaboutlanguagedevelopmentconcepts
andstrategiesviavideomodulesandoneononeinteractionwithhomevisitors,orthecontrol
condition,wheretheyreceivednutritionalinformation.Bothconditionshadthesamenumber
andfrequencyofvisits.Parentsintheexperimentalgroupalsopracticedvideomodeling,where
theywerefilmedattemptinglanguagestrategiesandthencoachedbythehomevisitor.Despite
intensivestudyofchilddevelopment,strategiessuchasincreasingconversationalturn
countforenhancinginteractions,andcoachingfromcaseworkers,thestudyfoundthatchanges
inparentbehaviorwerenotsustainedaftertheinterventionended.Theresearchersfoundthat
parentknowledgeincreasedsignificantlyintheexperimentalgroup,includinginformation
regardingtheimportanceofsharedattentionandchilddirectedspeech.Forgetfulnesswasnotthe
causeofsustainabilityissues:theknowledgegainedfromtheinterventionwassustainedmonths
aftertheinterventionended.Butthestrikingchangeinparentlanguagebehaviorsobserved
duringtheinterventionweresimplynotsustainedafterthehomevisitsstopped(Suskindetal.,
2015).ThesefindingshaveunfortunateimplicationsforProvidenceTalks.Itseemsthat
knowledgeandadvicealonearentsufficienttochangebehaviorinthelongterm:the
accountabilityprovidedbyhomevisitswaswhatpushedparentstoaltertheirlanguage
behaviors.

ACRITICALEVALUATIONOFTHEPROVIDENCETALKSINTERVENTION

ThesefindingsdonotmeanthatProvidenceTalksisnotaworthwhileinitiative.Rather,
theyshouldserveasacautionarytaleabouttheresultsofendingtheinterventiontooearly.Even
thoughthechangeinparentbehaviorsistemporary,theeffectsofthesebehaviorsonchildrens
languagedevelopmentarelonglasting,meaningthataslongasbehaviorismodifiedduringthe
criticalperiodsoflanguagedevelopment,thefizzlingoutofparentlanguagebehaviorsmight
notmattersomuch.AstudyconductedbyHuttenlocheretal.in2002examinedtherelationship
betweensyntacticcomplexityinparentsentencesandthecomplexityofthesentencesproduced
bytheirchildren.Althoughtheresultsofthisstudythatchildrenofparentswhousedmore
complexsentencesaremorelikelytodothesameareimportant,themethodismoretelling.
Theresearchersusedfouryearoldsforthisexperimentbecausebythisage,theyhavedeveloped
somesyntacticcomplexity,butarestillyoungenoughthatthewaytheirparentstalkexertsa
significantinfluenceontheirlanguagedevelopment(Huttenlocher,Vasilyeva,Cymerman,&
Levine,2002).ThishasimplicationsforthesustainabilityofProvidenceTalks,which,inits
currentform,stopsvisitingchildrenatagefour.Becausechangesinparentbehaviorarelikelyto
fizzleoutwhentheinterventionends,andbecausechildrenslanguagedevelopmentisstill
highlymalleableattheageoffour,itismyrecommendationthatProvidenceTalksbroadenthe
scopeofitsinterventiontocoveratleastfiveyearoldsand,ifpossible,sixyearolds.The
Suskindetal.researchshowsthatwecannotcountoninterventionstosustainthemselvesafter
homevisitsstop,soaslongaschildrenarehighlyreceptivetotheirparentslanguagebehaviors,
whichiscertainlythecasewellaftertheageoffour,itisbetterthattheinterventioncontinue.
TheresearchexaminedinthispapersuggeststhatProvidenceTalksefficientlytargetsthe
parentbehaviorsthatarelikelytoinfluencethedevelopmentofvocabularyandlanguage

ACRITICALEVALUATIONOFTHEPROVIDENCETALKSINTERVENTION

processingintheirchildren.Theinterventionusescoachingandtechnologytopushparentsto
talkmorewiththeirchildren,butalsotodosoincoherentcontexts:tohaveaconversationwhile
makingdinner,orwhileplayingagametogether.Thetwoprongedapproachofincreasing
quantityandimprovingqualityoflanguageexposureislikelytomakeProvidenceTalksfarmore
successfulthananinterventionthatonlyfocusesononeortheother.Improvingtheseearly
languageabilitiesisnotonlyimportantintheshortterm.Interveningearlyturnsouttohavea
powerfulimpactonlateroutcomes,suchasworkingmemoryandintelligence,thatareimportant
driversofacademicsuccess.GivenhowhighthestakesforProvidenceTalksare,itisvitalthat
thisinterventionchangeparentbehavioroverasufficientlylongperiodoftimesuchthatthe
childcanaccrueasmuchbenefitaspossibletolanguagedevelopment.Therefore,ifProvidence
Talks,withitswellfocusedmodificationstoparentbehavior,wereextendedtocoverchildrenat
leastuntilkindergarten,thecityofProvidencewouldlikelyseesignificantimprovementsinthe
preparednessofunderprivilegedstudents.ProvidenceTalksisnotaperfectintervention,butwill,
eveninitscurrentform,makesignificantprogresstowardsclosingthevocabularygap.

ACRITICALEVALUATIONOFTHEPROVIDENCETALKSINTERVENTION

References

Cartmill,E.A.,Armstrong,B.F.,Gleitman,L.R.,GoldinMeadow,S.,Medina,T.N.,&
Trueswell,J.C.(2013).Qualityofearlyparentinputpredictschildvocabulary3yearslater.
ProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciences,110(28),1127811283.

Huttenlocher,J.,Haight,W.,Bryk,A.,Seltzer,M.,&Lyons,T.(1991).EarlyVocabulary
Growth:RelationtoLanguageInputandGender.DevelopmentalPsychology,27(2),236248.

Huttenlocher,J.,Vasilyeva,M.,Cymerman,E.,&Levine,S.(2002).Languageinputandchild
syntax.CognitivePsychology,45,337374.

Marchman,V.A.&Fernald,A.(2008).Speedofwordrecognitionandvocabularyknowledgein
infancypredictcognitiveandlanguageoutcomesinlaterchildhood.

Roy,B.C.,Frank,M.C.,DeCamp,P.,Miller,M.,&Roy,D.(2015).Predictingthebirthofa
spokenword.ProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciences,112(41),1266312668.

Suskind,D.L.,Leffel,K.R.,Graf,E.,Hernandez,M.W.,Gunderson,E.A.,Sapolich,S.G.,
Suskind,E.,Leininger,L.,GoldinMeadow,S.,&Levine,S.C.(2015).

Talbot,M.(2015,January12).Thetalkingcure.TheNewYorker.

Weisleder,A.&Fernald,A.(2013).TalkingtoChildrenMatters:EarlyLanguageExperience
StrengthensProcessingandBuildsVocabulary.PsychologicalScience,24(11,)21432152.