Promotion of Communication and Language Development
with Infants and Young Children in Inclusive
Community-Based Child Care

Dale Walker and Deborah Linebarger

ABSTRACT (OSEP, USDE)

This project will improve the care and early intervention services provided to infants and young children who are at risk for, and with disabilities to promote their communication and language development. Through this project, we will increase the knowledge base pertaining to those practices and interventions that are most effective in promoting the communication and language development of infants and toddlers who are cared for in inclusive child care programs. With more infants and toddlers being served in inclusive child care programs, the quality of those programs in terms of child outcomes has become of paramount importance. Given the prevalence of communication and language delay among young children with disabilities, and the significance that proficiency in communication has for later development, we will:

(a) develop and test effective professional development strategies that result in successful collaboration with early childhood care providers to ensure that quality care and effective interventions are implemented in inclusive community child care programs,

(b) collaborate with early childhood caregivers in inclusive community child care settings to translate effective evidence-based communication and language-promoting strategies into practice to promote communication and language outcomes of infants and toddlers at risk for, and with disabilities, and

(c) broadly disseminate findings to early childhood care providers, administrators and researchers to promote practices resulting in the exemplary communication and language outcomes of infants and toddlers served in inclusive child care.

The benefits of this project will include the advancement of the knowledge base regarding caregiving practices and interventions that can be effectively implemented by caregivers in community-based child care programs that contribute to exemplary communication and language gains of young children.