# Characterizing Late Talker Communication with Black Caregivers

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · 2024 · $434,229

## Abstract

Project Abstract
Black children are at risk for misdiagnosis across categories of disability due to inappropriate assessment
materials and clinicians’ lack of knowledge regarding Black families’ cultural-linguistic practices. Criteria for
identifying children with late language emergence (LLE), otherwise known as late talkers, are based on the
communication norms of middle-upper class, monolingual, white families. Because communication practices
vary across cultures, typical language acquisition may also vary accordingly. Current assessment protocols,
including standardized tests, criterion-referenced measures, and questionnaires, are structured around one
specific culture’s expectations for communication. Without criteria that are consistent with the cultural-linguistic
practices of Black families, Black children are at risk for being mislabeled as a late talker due to a mismatch
between current criteria and their community language practices. The proposed study centers the expertise of
Black caregivers regarding their children identified as late talkers through the use of video-cued ethnography to
gather qualitative data. In addition, quantitative data will be gathered through direct assessment of the children,
which will be compared to the qualitative data. This mixed methods study will (1) characterize Black caregivers’
conceptualization of effective communication and late talking; (2) describe Black caregivers’ experiences and
evaluation of the language assessment process; and (3) investigate the relation between Black caregivers’
conceptualization of effective communication and current assessment protocols for identifying late talkers.
Black caregivers across socioeconomic status who have children identified as late talkers will respond to a
recording of a traditional language assessment of an unknown child and to questions regarding their
conceptualization of language and communication in individual interviews; participate collectively in a focus
group to discuss their experiences with language assessments; and provide real-time commentary as they
observe a language assessment of their own child. Video-cued analysis will be used to identify themes in
individual interview and focus group transcripts. Descriptive analysis will be used to compare caregivers’
qualitative responses to numerical data derived from the language assessment of the children. Emerging
themes across families will inform our understanding of the cultural practices that transcend SES and bear on
Black children’s communication and the evaluation thereof. Caregiver feedback on assessment protocols will
improve clinicians’ use of current assessment protocols with Black families and clinicians’ accuracy of their
description of Black children’s communication abilities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11031093
- **Project number:** 1R21DC022347-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
- **Principal Investigator:** Chelsea Privette
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $434,229
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11031093

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11031093, Characterizing Late Talker Communication with Black Caregivers (1R21DC022347-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11031093. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*