ABSTRACT
Two childcare workers in a daycare setting were trained in the use of Talking Up and Incidental Teaching procedures, designed to increase children's language. Training was introduced in two stages. The first was a standard training package comprising oral and written instructions, roleplay, modelling and feedback. The second was a modified package comprising a self-management component (the formulation by childcare workers of specific plans to implement each procedure, and a correspondence training component in which they received feedback on correspondence between their performance and their plans). Following a baseline period in which rates of child-initiated language were monitored the standard training package was introduced for both Talking Up and Incidental Teaching. Next, the modified (self-management) training package was introduced, first for Incidental Teaching, and subsequently for Talking Up. Introducing the standard training package resulted in markedly increased use of Talking Up by one worker and Incidental Teaching by both workers. However there was a concomitant decrease in child-initiated language (and hence opportunities to use Incidental Teaching). When the modified (self-management) package was introduced for Incidental Teaching, there was a resultant increase in the use of that procedure as well as a marked increase in child-initiated language. When the modified (self-management) package was introduced for Talking Up, there was a resultant increase in the use of that procedure but in contrast, there was a decrease in child-initiated language. With the introduction of each training package, nevertheless, both workers responded to increased proportions of child initiations over baseline. Results are discussed in terms of the confounding effects of the two procedures in this study and their relative usefulness in improving child language.
