Interests: First language acquisition, The development of communicative skills in infancy, individual differences in early word learning, caregiver-infant interaction, Socio-economic status (SES), school readiness, early literacy development I am interested in how babies learn to talk. There are large individual differences in when and how quickly children learn language. My research seeks to understand these early differences by considering the interaction of infant, caregiver and environmental factors using on experimental, observational and training study designs. Contact Details

Representative Publications:

• McGillion M, Pine J, Herbert J & Matthews D (2017) A randomised controlled trial to test the effect of promoting caregiver contingent talk on language development in infants from diverse socioeconomic status backgrounds. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(10), 1122-1131.
• McGillion M, Herbert J, Pine J, Vihman M, DePaolis R, Keren-Portnoy T & Matthews D (2016) What paves the way to conventional language? The predictive value of babble, pointing and SES. Child Development.
• McGillion ML, Herbert JS, Pine JM, Keren-Portnoy T, Vihman MM & Matthews DE (2013) Supporting Early Vocabulary Development: What Sort of Responsiveness Matters?. IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, 5(3), 240-248.
• Vihman M, Keren-Portnoy T, Whitaker C, Bidgood A & McGillion M (2013) Late Talking Toddlers: Relating Early Phonological Development to Later Language. York Papers in Linguistics, 13.