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Students and families from low-income backgrounds are at greater risk for stress, illness and other factors that make it difficult to be ready for learning in the class environment. For some students, the difference in expectations between home and school can be so drastic that it causes a type of culture shock. How can we ease this transition so that students are ready to learn? We can do this by explicitly teaching and explaining expectations, providing predictable routines, model and teach ways to express frustration and set daily, weekly and yearly goals.

Find the playlist for the full set of videos in this module series here:

Increasing the Language Skills of Children from Low-Income Backgrounds Playlist

Find each of the modules from this playlist here:

Please find links to research mentioned in this module here:

Aram, D. M. and Nation, J. E. (1980) Preschool language disorders and subsequent language and academic difficulties. Journal of Communication Disorders, 13(2), 150-170.

Bloom, L., & Lahey, M. (1978). Language development and language disorders.

Farah, M. J., Noble, K. G., & Hurt, H. (2005). Poverty, privilege, and brain development: empirical findings and ethical implications. Neuroethics in the 21st Century.

Windsor, J., & Kohnert, K. (2004). The Search for Common GroundPart I. Lexical Performance by Linguistically Diverse Learners. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47(4), 877-890.

Wolfe, C. D., & Bell, M. A. (2004). Working memory and inhibitory control in early childhood: Contributions from physiology, temperament, and language.Developmental psychobiology, 44(1), 68-83.