Language change in child psychotherapy: a meta-analytic review

Eighteen child therapy outcome studies, containing 26 treatment/control comparisons on at least one language measure, were evaluated. Four questions were addressed: (a) Does child therapy positively impact children's language proficiencies, and are its effects comparable to those obtained on nonlanguage outcome measures? (b) Do outcome effects vary across individual versus group treatment? (c) Does the type of emphasis on verbal process in treatment affect the degree of gain in the children's language proficiencies at outcome? and (d) Do effect sizes on language measures differ depending on type of presenting problem? Results indicate that child therapy has a significant positive impact on children's language proficiencies and that individual is superior to group treatment. Several trends emerged suggesting relationships between the magnitude of language change and type of emphasis on verbal processes in therapy and the childs' presenting problems. Further research on language variables is recommended.