To effectively translate evidence-based language and communication interventions for young children into early intervention (EI) service systems, it is imperative to understand EI providers' perspectives on the structure and procedures of specific interventions, including the professional development needed to support implementation. This pilot explanatory sequential mixed-methods study collected feedback from EI providers who participated in a recent professional development study focused on implementing a naturalistic caregiver-implemented language intervention, Promoting Communication Tools for Advancing Language in Kids (PC TALK). Through online questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, we explored providers' perceptions of the intervention’s acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness, as well as its benefits, barriers, and recommendations for broader EI system implementation.

The Juniper Gardens Children's Project (JGCP) is a founding demonstration of community-engaged research in the history of applied behavior analysis (ABA). Much has been published about the founding of the JGCP in 1964 and its accomplishments through 1980. This contribution to the special issue briefly revisits the founding of the JGCP and then updates its history between 1980 and the present, January 1, 2025. The subsequent articles in this special issue address significant work at the JGCP arising during this period after its founding with a focus on accomplishments made by the second and third generations of researchers. Many of these accomplishments can be considered legacies in ABA and community-engaged research given their scientific importance and social significance. These include advances in interventions and implementation on a larger scale, measurement supporting intervention decision making, and the preparation of the next generation of researchers. Thus, we set the stage for the articles that follow.

PURPOSE:Numerous studies emphasize the critical impact of early communicative interactions on children's language, cognitive, and social development; academic performance; and life outcomes. Early research linking disparities in language interaction quality and quantity to socioeconomic factors sometimes identified these population differences as the "word gap" and spurred intervention research aiming for more equitable early language learning opportunities. Recent critiques have suggested that past "word gap" research has relied too often on a deficit lens to attribute differences in language exposure to family background. Instead, recent proposals have advocated for reframing the "word gap" and the use of less stigmatizing and more equity-based approaches in intervention research. This article provides historical context on the "word gap" and its role in fostering an intervention science for early language promotion. While acknowledging the need to destigmatize language intervention efforts, we offer here not a reframing of the "word gap" but instead an expanded framework for representing the ecological and behavioral variances in early language opportunities that may affect children's early language development. This ecobehavioral approach helps identify both distal and proximal factors that may either promote or limit children's language learning opportunities. CONCLUSIONS:Addressing the "word gap" equitably requires interventions at multiple levels, emphasizing strengths-based language learning within home and community contexts. We outline principles to guide future language intervention research reflecting this expanded framework and provide examples of how new research is integrating these principles.

Language is a prerequisite for learning to communicate effectively and learning to read. Children learn language through interactions with caregivers and others. Since its founding, the Juniper Garden Children's Project (JGCP) has researched language acquisition as an intervention target in young children. This contribution to the special issue discusses two major contributions that emerged in the years after the founding of JGCP: interventions for young children and understanding the social determinants of language that are nested in the earliest interactions infants have with their caregivers. JGCP's accomplishments in these areas and their implications are discussed.

Educators have struggled to implement research-based practices effectively, particularly in early childhood settings where data-driven decision making (DDDM) is important for guiding practice. Implementation of DDDM is hindered by a lack of progress monitoring assessments, guidelines for how to use data to inform intervention decisions, and professional development for educators. To address these challenges, tools like the Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) and the Making Online Decisions (MOD) system have been developed, demonstrating significant benefits in enhancing education outcomes when used effectively. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of the MOD to enhance DDDM for young children performing below benchmark in Early Head Start. Findings indicated that the MOD increased the frequency of progress monitoring, high implementation fidelity, and sustainability after research support was discontinued. Educator satisfaction was generally high, but suggestions were made for improvements. Limitations, implications for practice, and future directions are discussed.

Measurement for intervention decision making has a long history in applied behavior analysis and at the Juniper Gardens Children's Project (JGCP). This contribution to the special issue discusses how researchers at JGCP fulfilled a need of home visitors (HVs) and early child-care providers who lacked valid measures that could be (1) administered universally to identify children likely to benefit from more intensive support and (2) used to monitor the progress of children (with and without disabilities) given provision of that support. The Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) for infants and toddlers became this important contribution. We developed and validated the IGDIs through a program of research collaborating with early childhood community partners and translated their use into practice. This article discusses this unique class of observational measures designed for practitioners to use for universal screening and monitoring the progress of young children's acquisition of early language, movement, problem solving, and social skills. Implications are discussed.

Engaging, focusing, and persisting in the completion of tasks are among the skills needed for school success. Tracking whether a child is learning cognitive problem-solving skills is essential in knowing if they are acquiring skills important for development and school readiness; and if not, how they are responding to early intervention. Use of the Early Problem-Solving Indicator (EPSI) was documented by data for 2,614 children (6–42 months of age) collected by the early childhood staff from 45 programs. Results indicated that the EPSI was (a) scalable across programs, assessors, and assessment occasions, (b) reliable, (c) sensitive to growth over months of age, (d) comprised a dynamic continuum of skills within and across skills over time, and (e) moderated by children’s disability status but not gender or home language. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Despite evidence that frequent progress monitoring to identify children at-risk of delays and inform early intervention services improves child outcomes, this practice is rare in infant–toddler settings where children could benefit the most from early intervention. Using a descriptive research design within an Implementation Science framework, we evaluated how 10 community-based infant–toddler agencies implemented a standardized progress monitoring assessment using a web application to monitor children’s growth and identify children at-risk for delay. An Implementation Index was developed to quantify implementation progress for each agency, which included their percent of tasks completed, and rate of task implementation over time. Staff turnover and high staff:child ratios were associated with low implementation of progress monitoring. The Implementation Index differentiated between agencies that otherwise demonstrated similar implementation rates. Implications for supporting progress monitoring and other evidence-based practices in community-based infant–toddler childcare settings are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention for enhancing the language development of young children enrolled in home visiting programs. The participants were 59 children (18–30 months old) enrolled in one of three types of home visiting programs. Children's language skills were assessed pre- and post-intervention with the Preschool Language Scale. To estimate the impacts of the intervention on children's language scores, we conducted a two-level hierarchical linear model. Results from this model provide promising evidence for the benefits of using systematic parent-implemented language interventions.

Universal screening and progress monitoring are evidence-based practices in early intervention/early childhood special education (EI/ECSE). Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) for infants/toddlers are measures that programs can use for universal screening, progress monitoring, intervention decision-making, and accountability. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, IGDIs were administered and scored exclusively in person by certified early educators. Because of COVID-19, EI/ECSE practitioners could no longer conduct in-person assessments. We report how two early intervention programs implemented IGDIs using remote protocols that included (a) preparation of parents for IGDI administration at home, (b) session observation by program staff using videoconferencing, and (c) remote coding of the child’s performance by program staff when interacting with a parent/caregiver play partner using the standard toy set. The remote protocols are described, and uptake by the programs is compared before and during the pandemic. Equivalence of children’s scores from in-person versus remote protocols is reported, as well as caregivers’ and program staff’s preferences. Implications for remote early childhood services are discussed.

Measures of young children’s social development are needed in the Multi-Tier System of Supports (MTSS) approach to early childhood. In 2004, we reported initial development of an observational measure of infants’ and toddlers’ social skills designed for early educators, the Early Social Indicator (ESI). Here, we report preliminary findings on the ESI’s feasibility, sustainability, and sensitivity to growth in social engagement based on a large, multiyear sample of children in one early childhood program that agreed to pilot the measure. Results indicated that ESI use by program staff was sustained over a 5-year period. Program staff were reliable coding a range of children’s positive and negative nonverbal and verbal social skills. However, staff were not reliable when coding the target of a child’s social response when it was not the Adult play partner (i.e., the Peer, or Nondirected target). Results documented sensitivity to growth over time, dynamic patterns of change within and across key skills consistent with the typical course of social development, and moderation by children’s home language and Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) status. Implications are discussed.

Children learn language through the interactions they have with their parents/caregivers beginning at birth. Hart and Risley (1995) discovered an inequity in the home language input children received from parents/caregivers. Children reared in low-income families received less input (conversations, turns) from parents than did children reared in more advantaged families. Less language input was linked to a disparity in children’s vocabulary learning by age 3. The long-term result of this social determinant of early language/literacy learning is a life trajectory of poor educational, economic, and health attainment for many children in families with limited resources, at vast cost to individuals, communities, and the nation. What is needed is an approach to word-gap prevention that is capable of achieving positive individual, community, and population outcomes. Translating research into practice, we developed the Bridging the Word Gap Community Action Planning Guide (BWG-CAPG) using a combined behavior-analytic, community psychology, and public health framework for this purpose (Greenwood et al., 2017). We also developed a progress-monitoring measure, the online BWG Community Check Box Evaluation System, to provide feedback on a community’s actions and progress in implementing their plan. Results from an initial pilot investigation within and across three community sectors in a large urban city were promising. BWG Community Check Box results indicated a number of desired outcomes: (a) capacity development and mobilization, (b) community implementation actions, and (c) community changes in practices, programs, and policies. Implications are discussed.

The Early Communication Indicator (ECI) is a progress monitoring measure designed to support intervention decisions of the home visitors and early educators who serve infants and toddlers. The present study sought to add to the criterion validity claims of the ECI in a large sample of children using measures of language and preliteracy not previously investigated. Early Head Start service providers administered and scored ECIs quarterly for infants and toddlers in their caseload as part of standard services. In addition, a battery of language and early literacy criterion tests were administered by researchers when children were 12, 24, 36, and 48 months of age. Analyses of this longitudinal data then examined concurrent and predictive correlational patterns. Results indicated that children grew in communicative proficiency with age, and weak to moderately strong patterns of relationship emerged that differed by ECI scale, age, and criterion measure. The strongest positive patterns of relationships were between Single Words and Multiple Words and the criterion at older ages. Gestures and Vocalizations established a pattern of negative relationships to the criterion measures. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Children vary extensively in their language skills at school entry, and a substantial part of this variation is due to disparities in language exposure prior to school. Because these differences have continuing impact on academic, cognitive and social development, prevention and intervention programs have been developed to address deficits in early experience with language and prevent continuing difficulties. We report the findings from a systematic survey of research on non-parental interventions, with the goal of identifying strengths and weaknesses in current literature which can inform current practice and also guide the design of future research. Studies were identified using a systematic search protocol of the communication and language intervention literature for children from birth through 5 years of age. One hundred and ninety studies published between 1975 and 2015 met the specified inclusion criteria, which included the experimental manipulation of at least one relevant intervention variable and applying and testing an intervention or practice with the purpose of improving child communication or language outcomes. The studies reviewed include some well-documented and validated intervention strategies that have potential to be useful for addressing the word gap. This survey of the literature exposes gaps in the knowledge base about language interventions for infants and toddlers. Inadequacies in reporting the characteristics of child and adult study participants as well as a lack of details about the application of interventions across child care and early learning settings or their effectiveness with economically, culturally and linguistically diverse populations are addressed. Implications for the design and reporting of future research to address the word gap discussed. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The amount and quality of language-related interactions young children experience is related to their later development. The field has developed strategies to address this need, but in practice, parents rarely use them consistently or with high levels of fidelity. Given the need to modify such interventions so that they are used consistently and with fidelity, the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether text messaging used as an enhancement to the Promoting Communication Tools for Advancing Language in Kids (PC TALK) intervention would result in improvements in parent engagement in a home visiting program, parent fidelity of use of the Promoting Communication (PC) strategies, and child language outcomes. Standard analyses of differences associated with group assignment to text messaging versus a control group did not reveal differences in outcomes; however, secondary analyses within the text messaging group were conducted to determine whether unplanned variations in the number of text messages sent were related to parent engagement, parent strategy use, and consequently, child language outcomes. A greater number of PC strategy-focused text messages and the total number of text messages sent were associated with increases in parent engagement and parent fidelity of implementation of the PC strategies. Text messaging had an indirect effect on child communication outcomes via parent fidelity. Social validity data and implications for practice from these findings are discussed. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Data-driven decision making (DDDM) helps educators identify children not responding to intervention, individualize instruction, and monitor response to intervention in multitiered systems of support (MTSS). More prevalent in K–12 special education, MTSS practices are emerging in early childhood. In previous reports, we described the Making Online Decisions (MOD) web application to guide DDDM for educators serving families with infants and toddlers in Early Head Start home-visiting programs. Findings from randomized control trials indicated that children at risk for language delay achieved significantly larger growth on the Early Communication Indicator formative language measure if their home visitors used the MOD to guide DDDM, compared to children whose home visitors were self-guided in their DDDM. Here, we describe findings from a randomized control trial indicating that these superior MOD effects extend to children’s language growth on standardized, norm-referenced language outcomes administered by assessors who were blind to condition and that parents’ use of language promotion strategies at home mediated these effects. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Increasingly, measurement of child outcomes is becoming an international priority. However, the psychometric properties of standardized measures are rarely explored for populations beyond the country in which the measures were developed. The Early Communication Indicator (ECI) is a measure of infant toddler expressive communication developed in the U.S. and designed for use by service providers to inform intervention decision making and outcome measurement. Because the ECI measures growth in prelinguistic and spoken language and can be administered in any language, it has implications for international applications. An intervention study with children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Australia that used the ECI provided the opportunity to explore growth in expressive communication for this population. Children in Australia evidenced significant growth on individual key skills and composite growth trajectories of the ECI. These trajectories conformed to a theoretical continuum of growth in expressive language, and trajectories were similar in onset timing, pattern of growth, and 36-month outcomes to children in the U.S. Implications for the ECI's use for data-driven decision making by early childhood service providers internationally are discussed, as well as limitations and future research directions. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

In this Special Issue we focus on highlighting intervention research addressing inequities in early language-learning experience that may place some children at a disadvantage later in school. Research over the last three decades has documented evidence for the differential amount and quality of children’s early language exposure, referred to as the “word gap.” This gap has been associated with family socioeconomic factors and has important consequences for children’s later vocabulary, literacy and school performance. Given the profound social, academic, and economic costs that may result when young children do not have ample language-learning opportunities, it is of primary importance to prevent inequities in language experience. With renewed interest in finding solutions to the word gap, this Special Issue is organized around a series of literature syntheses analyzing the state of language intervention research. Reviews of intervention studies conducted with parents, early educators and healthcare providers, and with culturally and linguistically diverse participants, as well as reviews of training and implementation practices, and methodological factors that inform intervention are described. Ten featured empirical studies document the efficacy of communication and language interventions and illustrate promising practices designed to improve outcomes for infants and young children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Based on the findings described in this compilation of articles, we provide some summary highlights and future directions for research addressing the word gap. First, we review the evidence for the word gap and discuss the literature to date in this area.

Universal screening and progress monitoring measures are increasingly of interest to early interventionists who make decisions about the services provided to young children. A measure of infant-toddlers’ growth in early movement, the Early Movement Indicator (EMI), was reported in 2002. However, the EMI has remained an experimental measure based on a small sample and not used broadly by practitioners in real-world programs. We addressed this limitation by advancing knowledge the EMIs scalability through a website and improved psychometrics in a large sample. Results indicated that the EMI was (a) scalable evidenced by a large volume of early childhood staff users in programs in five states with 628 children and 2,258 individual EMI assessments, (b) sensitive to growth over time, (c) comprised of a complex continuum of skill development, and (d) influenced by moderators (i.e., home language, Individual Family Service Plan [IFSP] status). Implications for research and practice are discussed.