Hidden expectations: Do teachers use expressive language ability as a proxy for overall development?

ABSTRACT

Just as paediatricians are the gatekeepers to children’s physical health, preschool teachers are the gatekeepers to children's overall developmental progress. Their perceptions shape their interactions with their students and guide referral for special education. The implications for students’ academic/developmental trajectories are manifold, requiring accuracy and sensitivity. This study compares teacher-reported subjective scales of development and expressive language ability to student performance on objective measures in these domains, and asks: (1) Are preschool teachers accurate in their perceptions of student overall development and expressive language ability? (2) Are teacher perceptions of expressive language ability more predictive of overall development than expressive language scores as measured by an objective assessment? (3) What implications does this have for teacher intervention and referral?

KEYWORDS:

• Child development
• early childhood education
• teacher perceptions
• expressive language
• preschool intervention and referral

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vanessa Vega

Vanessa Vega is a practicing pediatric occupational therapist with a particular interest in working with children under age 5 and their caregivers. She is Director of Education Programs at Sensory Kids & Social Minds, an interdisciplinary pediatric therapy clinic, started by her mentor and mother, Sonia Zayas, OTR/L. She conceived of this study while working with Dr. Keri Giordano during her first year of doctoral study in the Combined School and Clinical Psychology program at Kean University. Ms. Vega is currently a second year doctoral student.

Yael Osman

Yael Osman is a second year doctoral student at Kean University with a penchant for statistics.

Bracha Katz

Bracha Katz is a second year doctoral student at Kean University, who dedicates this manuscript to her son Efraim.

Keri Giordano

Dr. Keri Giordano is Assistant Professor in the Department of Advanced Studies in Psychology at Kean University. She is cochair of statewide initiative to enhance social-emotional competency of children in NJ by promoting the statewide implementation of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social and Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children.