Preschool studies
Emerging Literacy Project: Children with hearing loss are less likely to read at grade level than their typically hearing pears—a gap that exists as early as preschool. In a new multi-site collaboration with researchers at University of Washington, Washington State University, and Rush University Medical Center, our team is investigating predictors of emerging literacy skills in 3-5 -year-old children with and without hearing loss. Our UM team collaborates with the UM Debbie Institute auditory oral program on this exciting new project that will help us learn how best to support language and literacy development in all children.
A preschooler wears the custom vest with audio recorder and movement trackers from the IBIS project that helps us understand how she learns language and interacts with classmates.
A preschool classroom is a social network. Our IBIS project measures children’s talking and interactions to help us know who spends time to talking to whom and how network connections are made.
Interactive Behavior in Schools (IBIS) Project: In collaboration with Dr. Daniel Messinger and the Early Play and Development Lab, our team is exploring 2-5 -year-old children’s language and social interactions with peers and teachers in inclusive preschool classrooms in Miami-Dade for children with hearing loss, autism spectrum disorder, and developmental delays. Participating children wear custom vests fitted with audio recorders (LENA) and movement trackers (Ubisense) that helps us measure who children play with and talk to as they go about their school day and understand what classroom experiences can best support children’s language development.
Example cartoon video made from IBIS project measures of movement and talking. Each triangle is a person in the classroom (green are teachers and lab staff). The point of the triangle indicates which direction a person is facing. Triangles become filled in when a child is facing another person and begins talking. Additional cartoon videos are available to researchers with verified research accounts on our project’s Databrary page.