P0075 - “He’s Not Too Young”: Empowering Parents in Child Language Development Through UpWORDS, A Parenting Education Program

Background: Children of low socioeconomic status (SES) families have higher risk of language delays and poor school readiness compared to children of higher SES; 41% of US children are from low-income homes. The disparity may begin with the home language environment and persists past school entry, leading to higher risk of poor health. Community-based early language programs may improve the home language environment of low SES homes. Still, the literature on parents’ perspective of these programs is limited.

Objective: We explored the views and language scores of participants in upWORDS, a community-based early language program. Via mixed-methods, we aimed to describe upWORD’s impact on parents’ views on child development, child behaviors changes and continued use of information from upWORDS. We also aimed to identify patterns in parent-reported measurements of children’s language acquisition over time.

Methods: We applied thematic qualitative analysis to a convenience sample of interviews of parents (n=9) who completed upWORDS at least 1 year before interview. LENA Developmental Snapshots (n=101), a parent-reported measure of child language acquisition, were also reviewed. We used descriptive analysis to examine LENA Snapshot standard scores (SS) at baseline, during and after upWORDS.

Results: Qualitative analysis revealed two themes: child development, and parent knowledge and behavior change. Child development subthemes were child’s interest in reading, child’s communication and concerns about child development. Parent knowledge and behavior change subthemes were awareness of developmental delay, better understanding of normal child development, impact on childcare and school, parent-child interaction and challenges to using program information and sustaining behaviors. Mean LENA snapshot SS was 96 (standard deviation SD=17) at baseline, 105 (SD=18) at graduation, and 97 (SD=18) and 97 (SD=16) at 9 and 15 months post-graduation. There was no correlation between SS and reported challenges or sustained behavior changes.

Conclusion: Parents noted many sustained benefits of upWORDS, such as better understanding of child development, increased parent-child interaction and perceived improvement in children’s communication skills. These benefits may help professionals in early language programs and pediatric primary care. Next steps should include a follow up study to better describe SS patterns after graduation and if booster interventions are needed to sustain SS gains made during upWORDS.