Contact
leechk [at] unc.edu
Assistant Professor
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
REFERRED ARTICLES
Leyva, D., Weiland, C., Shapiro, A., Yeomans-Maldonado, G., & Leech, K. A. (Accepted, December 2021). Positive impacts of a strengths-based family program on Latino kindergarteners’ narrative language abilities. Developmental Psychology.
Leech, K. A., Herbert, K., Wang, T., & Rowe, M. L. (Accepted, September 2021). Exploring opportunities for math learning during parent-child interactions during infancy. Infant and Child Development.
*Leech, K. A., *McNally, S., & Corriveau, K. H. (Accepted, August 2021). The value of shared book reading at 9-months for vocabulary development at 3-years: A longitudinal study using a nationally representative sample of Irish families. Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
Wang, T., Leech, K. A., & Harris, P. L. (2021). Missing persons: Young children’s talk about members of their social network. Mind and Language.
Haber, A. S., Leech, K. A., Benton, D. T., Dashoush, N. & Corriveau, K. H. (2021). Questions and explanations in the classroom: Examining variation in early childhood teachers’ responses to children’s scientific questions. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 57, 121-132.
Kurkul, K., Castine, E., Leech, K. A., & Corriveau, K. H. (2021). How does a switch work? The relation between adult mechanistic language and children's learning. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 72, 101221.
Wei, R., Leech, K. A. & Rowe, M. L. (2020). Decontextualized language use during Chinese and American caregiver-child interactions. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 71, 101214.
Chandler-Campbell, I. Leech, K. A., & Corriveau, K. H. (2020). Investigating science together: Inquiry-based training
promotes scientific conversations in parent-child interactions. Frontiers in Psychology, 11-1934, 1-12.
Shin, S., Leech, K. A., & Rowe, M. L. (2020). Parent-child narratives about past and future events and children’s cognitive development. Cognitive Development, 55, 100910.
Leech, K. A. & Rowe, M. L. (2020). An intervention to increase conversational turns between parents and young children. Journal of Child Language. doi.org/10.1017/S0305000920000252
Leech, K. A., Haber, A. S., Jalkh, Y. & Corriveau, K. H. (2020). Embedding scientific explanations into storybooks impacts children’s scientific discourse and learning. Frontiers in Psychology, 11-1016, 1-12.
McLoughlin, N., Leech, K. A., Chernyak, N., Blake, P., & Corriveau, K. H. (2019). “I think I know what that is...”: Relations between parent and preschoolers’ self-referent mental state talk during collaboration. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 38, 255-267.
Rowe, M. L., & Leech, K. A. (2019). A parent intervention with a growth mindset approach improves children’s early gesture and vocabulary development. Developmental Science, 22, e12792.
*Leech, K. A., *Haber, A., Arunachalam, S., Kurkul, K., & Corriveau, K. H. (2019). On the malleability of selective trust. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 183, 65-74. *Joint first authorship
Leech, K. A., Leimgruber, K., Warneken, F., and Rowe, M. L. (2019). Conversation about the future-self improves preschoolers’ prospection abilities. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 181, 110-120.
Rowe, M. L., & Leech, K. A. (2019). A parent intervention with a growth mindset approach improves children’s early gesture and vocabulary development. Developmental Science, 22, e12792.
Leech, K. A., Ratner, N. B., Brown, B., & Weber, C. (2019). Language growth predicts stuttering persistence over and above family history and treatment experience: Response to Marcotte. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 62, 1371-1372.
Leech, K. A., Wei, R., Harring, J. R., & Rowe, M. L. (2018). A brief parent-focused intervention to improve preschoolers’ conversational skills and school readiness. Developmental Psychology, 54, 1-15.
Leech, K. A., Ratner, N. B., Brown, B., & Weber, C. (2018). Preliminary evidence that children’s productive language growth differentiates stuttering persistence and recovery, Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 60, 3097-3109.
Choi, A. B., Leech, K. A., Tager-Flusberg, H, & Nelson, C. (2018). Development of fine motor skills is associated with expressive language outcomes in infants at high and low risk for autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 10(14), 1-11.
Chernyak, N., Leech, K. A., & Rowe, M. L. (2017). Training preschoolers' prospective abilities through conversation
about the extended self. Developmental Psychology, 53, 652-661.
Leech, K. A., Rowe, M. L., & Huang, Y. T. (2017). Understanding SES differences in preschool children’s syntactic development: The role of vocabulary and processing efficiency. Journal of Child Language, 44, 995-1009.
Huang, Y. T., Leech, K. A., & Rowe, M. L. (2017). Exploring socioeconomic differences in language development
through the lens of real-time processing. Cognition, 159, 61-75.
Rowe, M. L., Leech, K. A., & Cabrera, N. J. (2017). Going beyond input quantity: Wh-questions matter for toddlers’
language and cognitive development. Cognitive Science, 41, 162-179.
Salo, V. S., Rowe, M. L., Leech, K. A., & Cabrera, N. J. (2016). Fathers’ speech to toddlers during book reading versus toy play. Journal of Child Language, 43, 1385-1399.
Ramani, G. B., Rowe, M. L., Eason, S. H., & Leech, K. A. (2015). Parents’ talk about number during informal learning activities in Head Start families. Cognitive Development, 35, 15-33.
Leech, K. A., & Rowe, M. L. (2014). A comparison of preschool children’s discussions with parents during picture
and chapter book reading. First Language, 34, 205-226.
Leech, K. A., Salo, V. S., Rowe, M. L., & Cabrera, N. J. (2013). Father input and child vocabulary development: The
importance of wh-questions and clarification requests. Seminars in Speech and Language, 34, 249-259.
Other Journal Articles, Book Chapters, Conference Proceedings
Chernyak, N., Leech, K. A., & Rowe, M. L. (2016). Training children’s prospective abilities through conversation about the extended self. Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society, 2159-2164.
Rowe, M. L., & Leech, K. A. (2016). Individual differences in early word learning. In G. Westermann & N. Mani (Eds.), Early word learning. Current Issues in Developmental Psychology. Psychology Press.
Rowe, M.L. & Leech, K.A. (2018). Individual differences in early word learning. In N. Mani & G. Westermann (Eds.), Early Word Learning. Current Issues in Developmental Psychology. Psychology Press, pp 96-109.