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Early Childhood Research Quarterly Bridging the Word Gap Special Issue

This Special Issue of Early Childhood Research Quarterly (ECRQ) features a series of topical, systematic and conceptual reviews of language intervention research and empirical studies addressing the word gap.  Click on the link below to check out 20 exclusive articles addressing the word gap.

Advancing Research to Promote Child Well-being

The overarching goal of the Bridging the Word Gap Research Network is to reduce the number of children who enter school with delays in language and early literacy.

New Synthesis Published on Automated Language Environment Analysis

A research synthesis by Bridging the Word Gap members Charlie Greenwood, Alana Schnitz, Dwight Irvin, Shu Fei Tsai, and Judy Carta was published in the American Journal of Speech Language Pathology.

5 Common Word Gap Myths

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Gem of the Month

Find out about this month’s spotlight researcher and how they are working to close the word gap.

Five cities will replicate Providence Talks, offering LENA programs for parents and teachers citywide

Providence Talks, an early-childhood program aimed at closing the word gap between affluent and low-income children, is expanding into five additional U.S. cities.

Resources for Parents

Resources for Researchers

Resources for Teachers and Early Childcare Providers

Early language experiences matter

Disparities in the quality and quantity of language input experiences by children

from poverty backgrounds exist and impact future child outcomes.

By age 4, children from low income families

hear 30 million fewer words.

Children from higher income families typically have twice the vocabulary size when

compared to children from lower-income families (1100 words vs. 500 words).

Read our latest PublicationsWays to Get Involved

Our Objectives 

The overarching goal of the Bridging the Word Gap Research Network is to reduce the number of children who enter school with delays in language and early literacy. Learn about the background and goals of our work in this YouTube video and find links to the National Research Agenda and other Network products and objective descriptions by clicking above.

 

Meet the Team

The Bridging the Word Gap Research Network is made up of more than 100 nationally recognized researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and funders working together to develop and push forward a coordinated national research agenda that address the word gap.

Practice-Based Research Collaborative

The Bridging the Word Gap Practice-Based Research Collaborative is designed to bring together programs across the country that are doing innovative research and implementation strategies for bridging the word gap. Learn more about some of our partners.

Bridging the Word Gap Initiatives

Check out our interactive map with links to word gap initiatives across the U.S.

Funding

This project was refunded through August 31, 2021 by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant UA6MC 27762, Bridging the Word Gap Research Network. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.