A systematic review of family led interventions for children with communication disabilities

The aim of this review is to determine which interven-tion programs provide favourable communication support for fami-lies and how the outcomes of intervention are related to underlying theories.: A systematic review and meta- analysis of the literature of family- led interventions was conducted. The methodology consisted of selecting the identified studies according to predetermined inclu-sion criteria and analyzing the results following the NJC Evidence- based Data Entry Instrument. Nine group studies and 20 single- case experimental designs were included in the coding and analysis stage.: A range of interventions including the use of parent and sibling training programs/approaches, storybooks, speech gener-ated devices and micro- level interactions were reported. These fo-cused on the development of pre- verbal skills such as symbolic play, imitation, turn- taking and joint engagement. Other studies reported specific language outcomes such as the development of pragmatic functions. Parent and sibling interaction skills reported included aided AAC modelling, use of pause time, open- ended questions, and expectant delay.: All the studies reported immediate positive outcomes of family training and interventions. Gaps in the research and impli-cations for further research were discussed.