Developing the caregiver report of early language interactions (creli)

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) awarded $991,216 to the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute, Inc. on September 15, 2025, under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865) to develop and validate the Caregiver Report of Early Language Interactions (CRELI). This project, which extends through August 31, 2027, addresses a critical gap in measurement tools for assessing early caregiver-child language interactions among Spanish-English bilingual families. The CRELI is a brief, self-report survey designed to measure primary caregivers' language interaction behaviors with children ages 0-36 months in both English and Spanish, providing researchers and service providers with a free, scalable, culturally responsive measurement tool that can be readily implemented at scale for intervention evaluation and progress monitoring.

The project incorporates sub-awards to WestEd and the University of Oregon to support comprehensive project delivery. WestEd will provide evaluation services including data management system development, grant administration assistance, and dissemination support through report writing and manuscript collaboration. The University of Oregon will contribute expertise in cultural and linguistic adaptation for Spanish-speaking communities, community engagement approaches, early language development in Spanish-language contexts, and qualitative research methodology including cognitive interviews and social validity assessments. Together, these collaborative efforts will complete systematic simultaneous development and validation of the CRELI in both English and Spanish, advancing equity-focused measurement infrastructure for early childhood language intervention research and practice.

Abstract

Early caregiver-child language interactions strongly influence child language development and numerous short- and long-term child outcomes, including increased success in literacy and academic achievement. Because of the public health significance, substantial research has documented evidence-based approaches that enhance early language interactions in the home and improve child outcomes, yet measurement of the home language environment and caregiver-child language interactions lags, particularly with respect to culturally and linguistically responsive measures. There is a critical need for validated tools that specifically measure language interaction behaviors across english and spanish and hispanic cultures to inform and evaluate interventions for spanish-english bilingual children in the united states. Currently, tools for measuring early language interactions are costly, resource-intensive, and have not undergone significant development with members of hispanic cultures, limiting equitable measurement and usability in both research and practice. Further, these tools are difficult to use when implementing interventions at scale. To solve this problem, our team developed the caregiver report of early language interactions (creli), a brief, self-report survey about primary caregivers' language interaction behaviors with children ages 0-36 months, which no other questionnaire uniquely captures. Our team has completed initial measurement development steps (expert reviews, revisions, and initial piloting in english) in preparation for a systematic, simultaneous development and validation in english and spanish. Validation of the creli in both languages will provide researchers and providers with a free, scalable, accessible, and culturally relevant tool to measure and monitor progress of caregiver language interaction behaviors. The purpose of this measurement development project is to develop the spanish creli, refine the english creli, and validate both versions for use in research and practice focused on caregivers of children ages 0-36 months. We will do this through the following aims: (1) develop the spanish creli and refine the english creli through focus groups and cognitive interviews with caregivers and providers; (2) assess the factor structure and psychometric properties of the english and spanish creli; and (3) evaluate demographic factors that affect performance on the creli. The proposed research will result in a free, validated, culturally responsive measure to assess english and spanish language interaction behaviors in a user-friendly and cost-effective manner. This will be invaluable to researchers and providers as a measure of intervention effectiveness and as a progress monitoring tool. Ultimately, this tool will help guide improvements in caregivers' language interactions in english and spanish in the united states, which may lead to short- and long-term improvements in academic, health, and economic outcomes for children, potentially reducing disparities for those in underserved and diverse families across community contexts.