The first thousand days: the foundation for a linguistically competent future
Language and language skills are extremely important for children and their future. You hear this message often, and it often focuses on what should happen at school. But the foundation for a linguistically competent future is laid much earlier: in the first thousand days of life.
If all goes well, children can learn a great deal about language in the first thousand days of their lives. But when is it going well and when could it be better? When can you wait and see, and when should you intervene? Paula Fikkert is investigating this together with her colleague Caroline Rowland from the Baby and Child Research Centre at Radboud University.
The research aims to provide more insight into the variation, in order to determine where problems arise. “We want every child to start school with sufficient knowledge,’ says Fikkert. ‘Because if you can't keep up with language, you won't be able to keep up in all kinds of areas in the long run. It is estimated that 25 per cent of the Dutch population leaves school with an insufficient level of language skills. That is a handicap for the people concerned, but it is also a great loss for society.”
Fikkert and Rowland are supported in their research by the Radboud TOS Fund, a named fund within the Radboud Fund established by Dr Kino Jansonius. As a retired clinical psycholinguist and speech therapist, Jansonius wants to encourage research into the early detection and investigation of language development disorders.
Flower-filled dikes: at least as strong and better for biodiversity
Over the next thirty years, 1,500 kilometres of Dutch dikes will need to be reinforced to meet new safety standards. More than 95 percent of Dutch grass dikes are mainly covered with grass. Three to five per cent of the dikes have species-rich dike coverings: a mix of grasses and herbs, also known as flower-rich dikes.
More species-rich dikes strengthen biodiversity. Within the Future Dikes project, researchers from Radboud University and their partners are comparing the strength of such biodiverse dikes with dikes dominated by grass. They are also looking at how best to construct and manage them, and what happens during droughts.
Ecologist Hans de Kroon: “The species-rich dike revetment is at least as safe as grass-dominated dike revetment and also includes many more plant species, which in turn attract more different insects. In this way, this dike revetment contributes to the preservation of biodiversity in the river landscape. We are very pleased that companies and individuals are supporting this research. Not only because of the financial contribution, of course, but also because it shows how broad the support is in society and how we can make a difference together.”
How can care providers let clients know that they are welcome?
In mental health care, it is extremely important to affirm the client and let them know that they are accepted as a person. But how can you convey this as a care provider? And how does this translate when care is provided online?
This is being investigated by Maartje Roodzant, a PhD candidate at the Centre for Language Studies, funded by the Dr Anna Terruwe Fund, a named fund within the Radboud Fund. The fund is named after psychiatrist Anna Terruwe, the founder of affirmation theory. By funding research into affirmation, donors keep Terruwe's legacy alive.
Although Roodzant only started her PhD last autumn, she has already made some interesting findings. ”I am currently working on an article about the use of compliments in telephone and chat conversations at an alcohol and drug information service. I noticed that compliments are sometimes used differently by counsellors in chat than in telephone conversations. I am investigating how compliments function in both settings within the conversation and how they contribute to both providing confirmation and to the specific goals of the counselling service. In the rest of my project, I will also investigate other possible expressions of confirmation in various forms of online and face-to-face mental health care.”
At a time when digital counselling in the form of chats or video calls is becoming increasingly common, it is important for counsellors to understand how affirmation is actually achieved in these digital conversations. “This can sometimes be challenging for counsellors. Do they have enough opportunities to convey that feeling online? With my research, I hope to provide insight into this.”
Would you like to contribute to research?
This demonstrates the broad support for science. Would you like to contribute yourself? Visit the Radboud Fund website to explore the various options.