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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2009 Feb;94(2):110-6.
doi: 10.1136/adc.2008.141572. Epub 2008 Aug 14.

Parent based language intervention for 2-year-old children with specific expressive language delay: a randomised controlled trial

A Buschmann  1 , B Jooss, A Rupp, F Feldhusen, J Pietz, H Philippi
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Parent based language intervention for 2-year-old children with specific expressive language delay: a randomised controlled trial

A Buschmann et al. Arch Dis Child. 2009 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this randomised controlled trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of a short, highly structured parent based language intervention group programme for 2-year-old children with specific expressive language delay (SELD, without deficits in receptive language).

Methods: 61 children with SELD (mean age 24.7 months, SD 0.9) were selected between October 2003 and February 2006 during routine developmental check-ups in general paediatric practices, using a German parent-report screening questionnaire (adapted from the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories). Standardised instruments were used to assess the language and non-verbal cognitive abilities of these children and of 36 other children with normal language development (reference group; mean age 24.6 months, SD 0.8). 58 children with SELD were sequentially randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 29) or a 12-month waiting group (n = 29). In the intervention group, mothers participated in the 3-month Heidelberg Parent-based Language Intervention (HPLI). All children were reassessed 6 and 12 months after pretest. Assessors were blind to allocation and previous results.

Results: 47 children were included in the analysis. At the age of 3 years, 75% of the children in the intervention group showed normal expressive language abilities in contrast to 44% in the waiting group. Only 8% of the children in the intervention group versus 26% in the waiting group met the criteria for specific language impairment (t score < or =35).

Conclusions: By applying the short, highly structured HPLI in children with SELD, the rate of treatment for language impairment at the age of 3 years can be significantly reduced.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flowchart of patient involvement in the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2. T scores (mean value, 95% confidence interval) for language production at pretest, post-test and follow-up for the intervention and waiting groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

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