Stress, Home Environment, Language & Learning (SHELL) Study

A large proportion of children grow up in multilingual environments, and this early exposure to multiple languages has robust consequences for multiple aspects of children’s brain and cognitive development. Studying the multilingual child early in development may offer the unique opportunity to empirically test questions regarding the interplay between early linguistic experience and cognition. Understanding how the early home environment impacts trajectories of language and cognitive development is crucial for the 11.2 million school-aged bilingual children in the U.S. and these findings have potential real-world implications for early education.

Hablame Bebe

Háblame Bebé is an educational phone application that aims to empower Hispanic parents and caregivers to engage with their cultural identities, to feel pride in being Hispanic and in speaking Spanish, and to promote bilingualism. This app seeks to change conceptions of bilingualism and promote ‘Language Nutrition’ in the home language. Fundamental to Háblame Bébe is the message that parents are their baby’s first and best teachers – regardless of what language they speak. (Link to Video, FB page, and Instagram Page)