Empowering Language Development: A Comparative Analysis of Parent-Implemented Intervention and Therapist-Implemented...

Evidence supporting parent-implemented intervention (PII) in treating young children with language delays mostly exists in Indo-European languages. Given the linguistic diversity and cultural differences, the purpose of the study is to examine the efficacy of PII compared to therapist-implemented intervention (TII) in treating Hebrew-speaking preschool children with language delay.

In a prospective controlled study using a convenience sample, 40 toddlers with language delays were divided into two intervention groups, PII (N = 19) versus TII (N = 21). Those in the TII group participated in 12 weekly individual speech and language intervention sessions, each lasting 45 min. Participants in the PII groups were the parents of the children and took part in 12 weekly group training sessions, each lasting 90 min. Children's expressive and receptive language abilities were tested before and after the intervention. The outcome measures included vocabulary (using a parental questionnaire), morphology (mean morpheme per utterance), and syntax (number of one-word utterances, two-word utterances, simple sentences, and complex sentences). Statistical analyses using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance compared both interventions across time.

Both PII and TII groups demonstrated significant improvement after intervention. Differences between the groups were limited to only one measure, simple sentences, with children in the TII group exhibiting a greater increase in the number of simple sentences compared to those in the PII group.

The present study extends knowledge regarding PII in non-Indo-European languages. The results highlight the positive effect of PII on language skills in Hebrew-speaking children with language delay, raising the potential contribution of its implementation in public health centers.