Abstract:

Objective This study was conducted to explore the correlation of infants' and toddlers' responsiveness with language and cognitive development in families speaking Chinese. Methods 22 families/children(children aged 4 to 30 months) were enrolled into the study. Children received 3 times day-long audio recordings to collect naturalistically at home with Language Environment Analysis system(LENA). Three major components including child words counts, adult-child conversational turns (including adult-initiated conversational turns and child-initiated conversational turns) and adult word counts were obtained. The scales of “Infant Language Development Screening Scales” and “Bayley Scales of Infant Development-Ⅰ” were respectively used to assess language and cognitive development of children. Data were analyzed by the software of SPSS 17.0. Results The children were divided into 3 groups, aged 4-12 months (7 children)，-24 months (9 children) and -30 months (6 children) groups. There were no differences in adult word counts, adult-child conversational turns and adult-initiated conversational turns among 3 groups, but child word counts and child-initiated conversational turns differed among 3 groups and the difference increased with age. When controlled child age, child language development was correlated with child word counts and child-initiated conversational turns and adult-child conversational turns correlated with adult word counts and child word counts. There were significant association in child language expression and Bayley Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) with adult-child conversational turns. PDI was also correlated with adult word counts and adult-initiated conversational turns. Conclusions LENA as an evaluation tool could reflect child family responsiveness objectively. The infants' and toddlers' responsiveness had a certain age effect and was directly correlated with language and cognitive development in Han-language families.

Key words: cognitive development, language development, responsiveness, child