Thanks to CAFA member Howard Houston for sending this in. Wanted for a Research Project on Memory and Language Development CAFA received a letter from Dr. Steven Reznick who is a developmental psychologist at UNC-Chapel Hill. He will be launching a research project to investigate parental influences on language development in toddlers. Currently, his sample consists almost entirely of biologically related families which means that parental influences on language are both environmental and genetic. He wants to include adoptive families for whom the parental influence on language is environmental but NOT genetic.
Participation involves a one-hour visit in the home, scheduled at the family s convenience.
During the visit the researcher would play various games with the child to assess language and memory, and administer a vocabulary test to one parent. A small gift is left with the child as a token of appreciation, however families are not paid. The research does not provide evaluations of individual children but general findings can be shared with interested families. However CAFA members are encouraged to follow-up if they are interested in anything they read in the newsletter.