The School of Communication Science & Disorders‘ Communication and Early Childhood Research and Practice Center (CEC-RAP) faculty and staff along with Kids Incorporated are celebrating the publication of two research endeavors in Early Childhood Research Quarterly this month. Assistant Director for CEC-RAP, Mollie Romano, and Kelly Windsor published “Increasing deictic gesture use to promote the language development of toddlers from high poverty backgrounds.” This study shares the results of an of an approach that increased the use of gestures in prelinguistic children as a preventative measure for toddlers at risk for language delays. Center Director Juliann Woods with Ciera Lorio published “Multicomponent professional development for educators in an Early Head Start: Explicit vocabulary instruction during interactive shared reading.” This study offers data on a literacy coaching professional development approach that targets vocabulary development during book sharing with toddlers. Both studies may be found at here.

Romano will present her work at the Beyond the Word Gap Preconference at the Society for Research in Child Development this March in Baltimore, Maryland.  Lorio graduated from FSU in 2018 and is now an assistant professor at Illinois State University. She been selected as an Emerging Scholar for the Bridging the Word Gap Research Network and will be adapting her intervention for families.

CEC-RAP’s community engagement partnership with Kids Incorporated was initiated when the Center opened in 2009 and has resulted in many innovative research and practice collaborations, including these two most recent activities.  At least 10 undergraduate students participate in service or practicum at a Kids Incorporated Early Head Start Center every year in partnership with CEC-RAP and SCSD.