ICD doctoral student’s research discussed in the Minnesota Daily

RidgeKatieIn Supermarket speak: Increasing talk among low-socioeconomic status families, Katherine Ridge, doctoral student at the Institute of Child Development, examines the effectiveness of using signs in the supermarket to stimulate conversation between parents and their children. Her research, reported in Mind, Brain, and Education, shows that these conversations encourage and support building language and school readiness skills. The effect is most evident in families who are located low-socioeconomic neighborhoods and, in fact, Ridge found that when signs were posted, families were almost 4 times more likely to converse in stores located in lower-socioeconomic communities than when they were not posted. Ridge hopes to continue to create similar low-cost, effective interventions that don’t disrupt the lives of families and instead can be a part of every-day life.

stEducationRidge’s research is featured in the July 29, 2015 issue of the Minnesota Daily in U study researches academic success through language skills.