The relation between parent verbal responsiveness and child communication in young children with or at risk for autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Sarah R Edmunds, Sara T Kover, Wendy L Stone
PMID 31050220WHAT IT FOUND
Parents who talk about what their toddler is already looking at are linked to better communication skills.
However, teaching parents to do this did not improve the children's language in trials. Direct speech therapy is still needed to help the child.
Key findings
01Parents talking about what the child is focused on is linked to better child communication, with no difference between children with autism and those at high risk.
02Interventions that taught parents to respond verbally to their child increased parent talking but did not significantly improve the child's communication compared to control groups.
03Studies that measured specific parent behaviors found links to child communication more often than studies using broad ratings of parent sensitivity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 18 studies were included in the quantitative meta-analysis, which limits statistical power. Publication bias was not assessed. Studies varied widely in how they defined and measured parent responsiveness and child communication. A quarter of the participants were older than 36 months, so the findings may not strictly apply to children under 3 years. Intervention studies often did not specify which components of the intervention were active, making it hard to know what actually worked. No studies used transactional analysis to see how parent and child behaviors influence each other over time.
Declared interests
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that coaching parents to be more verbally responsive will automatically improve their child's communication. The meta-analysis found that while parent responsiveness increased, child communication outcomes did not significantly improve compared to controls. Direct intervention on the child's skills is still required.