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Language Beliefs And Practices Of Caregivers In The Deep South, Maria Maldonado

LSU Master's Theses

The 30 million word gap refers to the disparity in early language exposure between low socioeconomic status (SES) children and their higher SES peers; a gap that is thought to negatively impact children’s language development and future academic success. Although many early intervention approaches have proven effective in promoting language development among low SES children, they often fall short in terms of cultural responsiveness, which in turn affects caregiver buy-in. Culturally and linguistically diverse children disproportionately live in poverty, as such there is a need for research to inform more responsive interventions that take a strengths- based approach and build …