Impacts of an in-service education program on promoting language development in young children: a pilot study with early childhood educators

Early childhood educators (ECEs) play an important role in fostering language development in young children. In-service education, led by speech-language pathologists (SLPs), has a potential role in educating ECEs about language development. In this pilot study, 42 ECEs attended an in-service education program and completed pre- and post-questionnaires to explore their perceptions of the impact of the in-service on their knowledge of child language development and language-promoting strategies and their confidence in this knowledge. To explore ECEs’ actual use of strategies, five ECEs also participated in pre- and post-video recordings of their interactions with children. ECEs’ knowledge of language development and language-promoting strategies increased post-program. Confidence in this knowledge and awareness of their roles also increased. Although not statistically significant, video recordings captured an overall increase in ECEs use of seven of the eleven rated language-promoting strategies. This pilot study has highlighted potential benefits of SLP-led education programs for ECEs, which is promising given the important role of ECEs in facilitating child language development