SleepBoost: The Feasibility of Supporting Sleep to Support Language

This research explores the acceptability, feasibility and impact of implementing a caregiver-led sleep intervention alongside a targeted language intervention group for parents and carers of two-year-old children with early language difficulties.

About the intervention

SleepBoost is a caregiver-led intervention supporting parents to choose and implement meaningful, evidence-based behavioural targets to promote better child sleep.

Sleep is integral to children’s language development. It supports both:

• daytime language learning
• overnight consolidation of new vocabulary

However, disrupted child sleep is common, particularly in children with developmental conditions and those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. 

Children’s sleep is also part of a complex family-wide dynamic. Poor child sleep can negatively impact parental sleep and family functioning.

Insufficient sleep likely contributes to a negative cycle of:

• reduced opportunities to learn language
• reduced overnight consolidation
• increased daytime disruption

Who are we inviting to take part?

Families with two-year-old children who are enrolled in the community language support programme Chatterbox.

About the research

This study has been co-developed with the 0–19 Children’s Public Health Service in North Tyneside.

It focuses on:

• the acceptability and feasibility for families completing both programs
• changes in children’s sleep and language outcomes to inform a future randomised controlled trial

Find out more

• this research is funded by the Nuffield Foundation
• visit our project website for more information
• researcher profiles: Dr Vic Knowland and Dr Faye Smith