Sparks, Alison Selected Presentations and Invited Talks

Carmiol, A.M., Sparks, A., & Conejo-Bolaños, L.D. (2021). Caregiver Reminiscing and Book Sharing Styles and Children’s Language and Literacy Development in Costa Rica. Paper presented in S. Mendive (Chair), Home Language and Literacy Environment in Latin America – Family Processes, Child Outcomes, and Intervention Efforts. Society for Research in Child Development (virtual).

 Carmiol, A.M., Sparks, A., & Conejo-Bolaños, L.D. (Agosto, 2018). Reminiscing and book sharing and their links with children’s language and literacy development in Costa Rica. Ponencia presentada en el Encuentro sobre Lenguaje, Cognición e Interacción social en la Primera Infancia. Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones en Psicología Matemática y Experimental (CIIPME), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 Carmiol, A. M., Sparks, A., Conejo, L. D. (2017). Reminiscing and book sharing and their links with children’s early literacy development in Costa Rica. Paper presented at the Many Paths to Language Workshop at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. 

Sparks, A. (2017). A picture inspires a thousand words at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art's family literacy program. Paper presented in E. Reese (Chair), Learning from Picture Books: New Twists on a Familiar Tale. The International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL), Lyon.

 Sparks, A. (2016). Benefits of looking at the whole book: An evaluation of the Eric Carle Museum's Shared Reading Program. Invited talk presented in the University of Otago Department of Psychology. Dunedin, New Zealand.

Rosemberg, C. R.,  Alam, F., Stein, A., Sparks, A. (2016). El discurso acerca del futuro en niños pequeños: Un estudio con niños de grupos socioculturales diversos de Argentina. Congreso Internacional de Adquisición del Lenguaje (AEAL), Mallorca.

Sparks, A. (2015). Exploring the impact of a family literacy program with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Poster presented at the Cognitive Development Society (CDS), Columbus, OH.

Sparks, A. (2014). Elaborative conversations as a context for intervention: Research Findings and Future Practice. Keynote address presented at the Momentous Institute, Nurturing Quality Parent-Child Interactions. Dallas, TX.

Sparks, A. & Reese, E. (2014). Elaborative conversations as a context for emergent literacy intervention. Paper presented in G. Melzi (Chair), Narrative Interactions in the Preschool Years:  Encouraging Caregivers to Support Children's Skills and Cultural Heritage. The International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL), Amsterdam.

Sparks, A., Carmiol, A., and Rios, M. (2013). Family reminiscing practices and children’s emergent literacy skills in Costa Rican Dyads. Paper presented in G. Melzi (Chair), Érase Una Vez: Latino family narratives and their relation to children’s school readiness skills. Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Seattle.

Carmiol, A., Rios, M., & Sparks, A. (2013). Reminiscing and emergent literacy in Costa Rican families. Presented in R. Fivush (Chair), New Conceptualizations of cultural approaches to maternal reminiscing. Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Seattle.

Sparks, A. (2012). Book Reading and Reminiscing with Preschoolers: How Important is Context for children’s learning? Invited presentation at Communication Development: A Cross-Linguistic, Cross-Culture Comparison, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK (Research group funded by The British Academy of Science).

Sparks, A. (2011) Adapting a narrative assessment for children from diverse linguisticbackgrounds. Invited presentation at Communication Development: A Cross-Linguistic, Cross-Culture Comparison, University of Costa Rica, San Jose (Research group funded by The British Academy of Science).

Sparks, A. (2011). Parent’s use of elaborative forms of language in two contexts:  Reminiscing and book reading with children from linguistically diverse, low-income backgrounds. Poster presented at The International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL), Montreal.

Sparks, A. & Reese, E. (2009). The interface between mother-child storytelling and children’s developing literacy: Evidence from a sample of children entering Head Start. Paper presented in S. Curenton and D. Brown (Chairs), Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Denver.

Reese, E., Sparks, A., Kalia, V. (2008). Oral narrative skills and reading ability: Implications for assessment. Paper presented in A. Nicolopoulou (Chair), Narrative Assessment of Preschoolers: significance and best practices. Congress of the International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL), Edinburgh.

Sparks, A. (2008). Latino preschoolers and their parents talk about the past: Implications for language and literacy. Invited presentation at the paper symposium, G. Melzi & K. King (Chairs), Narrative development among Spanish-speaking Latino children. Georgetown University Round Table, Washington, D.C.

Sparks, A., Leyva, D., & Reese, E. (2007).  Maternal reminiscing and children’s autobiographical memory in low-income Anglo and Latino families. Paper presented in L. Shroder (Chair), Autobiographical memory across the lifespan. Biennial Meeting of the International Association of Cross Cultural Psychology, Mexico City.

Sparks, A.  (2006) Parent-child conversations and preschoolers’ literacy in Latino families. Paper presented in E. Reese (Chair), Language and literacy in diverse environments. Biennial Meeting of the International Society for Behavioral Development (ISSBD), Melbourne, Australia.

Reese, E., Sparks, A. & Cenko, E.  (2006). Talking to children: how important is context? Paper presented in M. Keller (Chair), Narrative development. Annual Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Baltimore.

Leyva, D., Reese, E., & Sparks, A.  (2006). Story-reading and story-telling in low-income families. Paper presented in M. Keller (Chair), Narrative development. Annual Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Baltimore.

Sparks, A., Reese, E., & Kalia, V. (2005). Home influences on child language and literacy in low-income families. Invited presentation  at the paper symposium, F. J. Morrison (Chair), The socialization of cognition: Environmental influences on developmental change. Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Atlanta.