Exploring Interactive Songs as a Vocabulary Input Context.

PURPOSE: Interactive songs are a common shared activity for many families and within early childhood classrooms. These activities have the potential to be rich sources of vocabulary input for children with and without language impairments. However, little information is known about the how caregivers currently provide input for different types of vocabulary during these activities. The purpose of this research note is to provide preliminary information on how caregivers provide input related to verbs within an interactive song activity.

METHOD: Observations of caregivers engaging in song activities with their child were collected. The gestures used during the interactions were coded.

RESULTS: The results show that, when given examples, caregivers provide gestural input both frequently and consistently.

CONCLUSIONS: Clinical implications and future directions for exploring songs as an intervention context are discussed.