CABVI technology

Technology that supports bilingual learning.

CABVI brings together several lines of research. They include bilingual audio models, vocabulary teaching, children’s media, technology-supported learning for caregivers and professionals, and carefully guided speech-to-speech interaction.

Six connected lines of work Return to the CABVI overview

Six connected lines of work

Different tools. A shared purpose.

Each line answers a different question, so we keep their roles and evidence separate.

Foundational work

Audio prompting and text-to-speech

Peer-reviewed research

What it is

Recorded or computer-delivered speech can give clinicians and children consistent models for target words in Spanish and English.

Why it matters

This line of work asks whether bilingual audio can help a monolingual clinician provide access to a language the clinician does not speak.

Clinician-guided instruction

CABVI

Peer-reviewed research

What it is

CABVI combines bilingual audio, direct vocabulary teaching, shared reading, and structured receptive and expressive practice on a digital device.

Why it matters

The goal is to widen access to Spanish and English support while keeping the clinician or educator at the center of the interaction.

Media and language input

Bilingual programming analysis

Peer-reviewed research

What it is

This research examines the cues children’s bilingual programs use when they introduce and explain vocabulary across languages.

Why it matters

Understanding these cues helps researchers think carefully about how media can make a new word noticeable and meaningful. This is the line of work we refer to as our cartoon analysis.

Family learning

Technology-supported caregiver training

Peer-reviewed research

What it is

A bilingual app can model and organize book-sharing strategies that caregivers practice with their children in everyday routines.

Why it matters

This line of work asks how computer-based learning can make practical, Spanish-language support more accessible to families while keeping caregivers at the center.

Professional learning

Computer-based professional training

Peer-reviewed research

What it is

Structured digital activities can give graduate clinicians guided practice identifying Spanish dialect features and distinguishing language difference from potential disorder.

Why it matters

Technology can expand opportunities to practice culturally and linguistically responsive skills, with educators and supervisors guiding how those skills are applied.

Expressive component

Speech-to-speech with Pío and Ceci

Current exploratory work

What it is

This current work explores an AI-supported experience in which children can say, explain, and use words in Spanish and English while an adult guides the activity.

Why it matters

It is designed to add opportunities for active speaking, not to replace clinical judgment, teaching, or human interaction.

Technology publications

Read the research behind the tools.

Publisher and DOI links lead to verified scholarly records. A link marked “Open the full text” leads directly to a verified public document; other access may depend on the publisher or your library.

Peer-reviewed research

Audio prompting and text-to-speech

Rivera Pérez, J. F., Creaghead, N. A., Washington, K., Guo, Y., Raisor-Becker, L., & Combs, S. (2019). Using audio prompting to assist monolingual speech-language pathologists to teach English–Spanish vocabulary to English learners. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 41(1), 3–11.
Open publisher record
Rivera Pérez, J. F. (2016). The use of text-to-speech to teach vocabulary to English language learners [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati].
Open the full text
Rivera Pérez, J. F., Creaghead, N. A., Washington, K., Guo, Y., Raisor-Becker, L., & Combs, S. G. (2022). The relationship between perceived assertiveness/shyness and emergent bilinguals’ vocabulary intervention outcomes: A preliminary investigation. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 44(1), 14–22.
Open publisher record

Peer-reviewed research

CABVI

Rivera Pérez, J. F., Lund, E., Abdelaziz, M., & Regalado-Lee, A. (2026). Monolingual clinicians using computer-assisted bilingual vocabulary instruction to promote Spanish and English in dual language learners. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 57(2), 386–405.
Open publisher record

Peer-reviewed research

Bilingual programming analysis

Rivera Pérez, J. F., Hart, R., & Lund, E. (2021). Vocabulary-learning cues used on children’s bilingual programming. Journal of Children and Media, 15(3), 301–319.
Open publisher record

Peer-reviewed research

Technology-supported caregiver training

Rivera Pérez, J. F., Regalado, A., & Lund, E. (2022). Effects of a computer training to teach Spanish book-sharing strategies to mothers of emergent bilinguals at risk of developmental language disorders: A single-case design study. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 31(4), 1771–1786.
Open publisher record

Peer-reviewed research

Computer-based professional training

Rivera Campos, A., Rivera Pérez, J. F., Mascorro, K., & Bou, N. (2026). Effects of a computer-based transcription training on clinicians’ accuracy in identifying Spanish dialectal features: A multiple-baseline single-case design. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 35(3), 1081–1099.
Open publisher record

Current exploratory work

Speech-to-speech with Pío and Ceci

A completed outcome study is not yet available for this component.

How we approach technology

Useful, guided, and accountable.

People stay central

Clinicians, educators, families, and children shape how a tool is used.

Languages stay visible

Spanish and English are treated as meaningful parts of children’s communication.

Claims follow evidence

We distinguish peer-reviewed findings from work that is still being designed or studied.