What are we trying to find out?  

We are interested in the relationship between sleep and language development in children. In this project we want to find out about parents/caregivers’ experiences when they are involved in a group to support their child’s language as well as a programme to support their child’s sleep.  

• Language: All children involved in SleepBoost will have 3 language assessments to monitor changes in their language. The first assessment will be before you join the Chatterbox sessions, the second at the end of Chatterbox, and the third about three months later.
• Sleep: Families in SleepBoost will be supported with a gentle, family-guided pre-school sleep programme. The sleep programme takes three weeks in total and is all about making small, sustainable changes, working towards goals that are chosen by parents/caregivers and that make sense for the family.  

Families will be randomly allocated to the Sleep Programme group or the Waiting group: 

• Those in the Sleep Programme group will complete the sleep programme before Chatterbox. 
• Those in the Waiting group can complete the sleep programme after Chatterbox, if they want to.  

What will the project involve? 

Families who sign up to SleepBoost will be involved with the project over a period of around 4 months. We will: 

• Assess your child’s language. A Speech and Language Therapist (Jessie) will assess them directly, ask you some questions about their language and observe them playing. 

• Ask you to fill out a questionnaire about your child’s sleep. This will ask about sleep habits and behaviour but also how you and your child feel about sleep and bedtime. 

• Ask you to complete a gentle, family guided sleep programme to support you and your child to get a better night’s sleep for three weeks in total. 

• We may ask you to monitor your child’s sleep by filling out some simple, online sleep diaries and by giving you an actiwatch (like a FitBit) to put on your child at bedtime for 2 weeks.  

• Ask you if being involved in SleepBoost was okay. We want to know whether or not parents/caregivers find the sleep programme easy and acceptable. Laura will ask you about this in a discussion at the end.  

 
What are the benefits and risks of taking part in this research? 

The aim of our work is to better understand children’s language development. We want to know if sleep difficulties make it harder to learn language, and whether supporting sleep could support language in children with early language delays. Being involved in SleepBoost would help us understand these questions. In addition, your child’s language would be monitored by a Speech and Language Therapist, and you would be supported to make positive changes to your child’s sleep.  

Research in the School of Education, Communication and Language, at Newcastle University, is planned and conducted in such a way that children are at no risk of harm. There are therefore no foreseeable risks in taking part. 

If you choose not to take part, your child’s care under the North Tyneside 0-19 Healthy Child team would not be compromised in any way. If you choose to join a Chatterbox group, other children in the group may be involved in the SleepBoost project.  

What will happen to my data? 

All information about you and your child will be kept strictly anonymous, except in the event that a researcher is concerned about a child’s physical, mental or emotional safety. Information collected about you and your child during the course of the study will be retained in confidence and stored securely for 10 years. For full details about the storage and use of SleepBoost data, including information on compliance with GDPR, please see the study Privacy Notice. 

What will happen if I don’t want to carry on with the project? 

You are free to withdraw from the project at any time and without giving an explanation. Any data gathered will remain confidential and will be stored securely. If you withdraw from the project, your child's data will not be analysed.