Parents Plus: Language Coach

Brook Sawyer, assistant professor of Teaching, Learning and Technology, received a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the Institute of Education Sciences to develop and assess the promise of Parents Plus: Language Coach. The online tool, coupled with individual coaching, aims to educate parents of preschool children with language impairments about techniques to promote their children's language skills.

Sawyer is working with colleagues from Teachers College, Temple University and the Oregon Research Institute to develop the web-based training course.

"It's imperative that we promote young children's language skills early so that they can have optimal success in reading and academics as they enter elementary school," she said. "And right now, parents of preschoolers often don't have sufficient or convenient enough means to learn evidenced-based language facilitation techniques to help their children."