Dale Walker

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the impact of Promoting Communication: Tools for Advancing Language in Kids (PC TALK) on infants and toddlers with and at risk for developmental delay and disabilities. Given the pivotal role that experience with language plays in early vocabulary development, later reading, and school proficiency, ensuring that infants and young children have ample opportunities to learn language is of primary importance. Ongoing systemic inequities compounded by t...

The goal of this project is to design and test a professional development (PD) framework to support implementation of Promoting Communication Tools for Advancing Language in Kids (PC TALK), an existing intervention aimed at supporting parents in improving the language learning opportunities and outcomes of infants and toddlers with or at risk for disabilities. Research has documented the association between early opportunities to learn and practice language in daily interactions and later la...

In this project, the research team will develop and test a web-based tool that supports infant-toddler service providers' use of child data to individualize services for children at risk for delay in cognition, gross motor skills, communication, or social skills. Despite evidence that using child data to inform services and curriculum decisions improves child outcomes, infant-toddler educators often lack the training and resources needed to monitor children's progress on key outcomes and ind...

This study will examine the reliability and validity of two Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) - the Early Cognitive Problem Solving Indicator (EPSI) and the Early Movement Indicator (EMI) - designed for screening and progress monitoring in intervention decision making with infants and toddlers with and without disabilities. High-quality services for young children with or at risk for disabilities increasingly rely on the use of data for decision making. The IGDIs were desi...

Children who lack key early language and literacy experiences prior to kindergarten face significant challenges learning to read. Because of impoverished early language experiences, many children are not adequately prepared to benefit from the reading instruction they receive when they reach school. Home visitation is a viable model for improving the home language experiences that are known to promote children's growth in language and early communication. However, home visitors face challeng...