Capacity Building for Neurodevelopmental Research on Maya Children’s Language Environment

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Project Summary This Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant will provide support for `global brain and nervous system disorders research across the lifespan' via two foci: (1) developing foundations for sustainable neuro- health research capacity in Mexico's Yucatán state focused on the early years of brain development for Yucatec Maya children, and (2) improving understanding of influences on Yucatec Maya children's early language trajectories. Specific Aim 1 is to improve local research capacity at the Mexico-based Solyluna A.C. to plan, conduct, and disseminate research on language-specific neurodevelopmental function and disorders among Yucatec Maya children. Specific Aim 2 is to conduct a pilot longitudinal study of the home environment and its influence on Yucatec Maya children's early language trajectories. For the latter, we use behavioral measures of Spanish and Mayan language skill, which serve to approximate the cortical structure and function of language-supporting brain regions. To address Aim 1, we engage in two-years of activities designed to develop the research capabilities of the Solyluna-based team in eight areas: (1) research ethics and human-subject protections, (2) participant recruitment, screening, enrollment, and maintenance; (3) implementation of child language assessments in Mayan and Spanish with integrity, (4) development, piloting, and implementation of caregiver questionnaires, (5) implementation of observational tools to measure the home environment, (6) data-entry, cleaning, and database management, (7) data analyses and interpretation, and (8) dissemination. These competencies will be explicitly addressed in six capacity-building workshops and aligned data-analysis working sessions. The OSU-based team and expert consultants have expertise in all eight areas and also bring substantive experience aligned to the longitudinal pilot study. To address Aim 2, we design, implement, and disseminate a longitudinal pilot study involving 100 3- year-old Yucatec Maya children and their caregivers. Dyads will participate in study activities over an 18-month period. Tentatively, we expect to collect a comprehensive caregiver questionnaire at baseline and child language assessments and home observations at 4 time-points with roughly 4- to 5-month intervals. Home observations include activities designed to measure caregiver well-being, household hardship, parent-child interaction quality, and exposure to child-directed talk. Multilevel growth-curve models will be used to investigate the language trajectories for children captured at four time-points and to examine the contribution of the home-environment indices to these trajectories.