Association of Parent Training With Child Language Development: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
JAMA Pediatrics
Roberts, M. Y., Curtis, P. R., et al. (2019).
JAMA Pediatrics, 173(7), 671-680.
This meta-analysis investigates the effects of parent training on language outcomes in young children from various clinical populations.
Not further specified
Randomized controlled trials; non-randomized controlled trials
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For children who are at-risk of developing a language disorder, parent training demonstrated small to moderate effects (<em>g</em>) on the following:
<ul>
<li>expressive/receptive language (<em>g</em> = 0.22-0.28);</li>
<li>social communication (<em>g</em> = 0.18); and </li>
<li>engagement (<em>g</em> = 0.36).</li>
</ul>
For children with autism spectrum disorder, parent training demonstrated small to moderate effects (g) on the following outcomes:
<ul>
<li>expressive language (g = 0.19);</li>
<li>receptive language (g = 0.09);</li>
<li>social communication (g = 0.21); and</li>
<li>engagement (g = 0.55). </li>
</ul>
The studies included participants from varied populations, such as autism spectrum disorder, developmental language disorder, and at-risk children. Findings indicated parent training to use language support strategies had a moderate overall effect of 0.33, which suggests an overall positive impact of parent training on a child's outcomes (i.e., expressive/receptive language, engagement, social communication).
For children with a developmental language disorder, parent training demonstrated moderate to large effects (<em>g</em>) on the following child outcomes:
<ul>
<li>expressive language (<em>g</em> = 0.83);</li>
<li>receptive language (<em>g</em> = 0.92); and </li>
<li>social communication (<em>g</em> = 0.37).</li>
</ul>
