Parental beliefs about children's language and music development: a pilot project
Author
Faculty Advisor
Date
2025
Keywords
parenting, child development, child language
Abstract (summary)
Parents have access to a wealth of information regarding child development; however, much of this information is conflicting, incorrect or misleading, or overwhelming in amount or complexity. We distributed a survey distributed to parents/guardians of children under five years of age (n = 27) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and surrounding areas. Descriptive and correlational analyses were used to address the following: (1) What knowledge and misconceptions do parents have regarding language development? (2) Is knowledge of language development associated with parental demographic variables? (3) What concerns do parents have about language development? Found that only 48% of parents sampled correctly identified the age range at which children tend to produce their first words, and only 53% correctly identified the age at which children begin producing two-word utterances. There were no significant correlations between any of the demographic variables tested and know ledge of milestones; however, correlational values indicate that this is likely due to the study being underpowered. However, this research informs the literature on areas in which parents have concerns regarding their child's language development, with the most common being their child not meeting speech milestones and having difficulty producing and understanding speech. This exploratory study offers insights into parental knowledge of language development, highlighting common misunderstandings and areas in language development in which parents have the most concern that can be addressed in future research.
Publication Information
DOI
Notes
Presented on April 17, 2025 at Student Research Day held at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta.
Item Type
Student Presentation
Language
Rights
All Rights Reserved