Working on Rapid Language Development in Toddlers
Condition: Language Developmental Disorders
MeSH terms: Language Disorders; Developmental Disabilities
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The goal of the study is to examine the effects of teaching parents to use language support
      strategies on language skills in toddlers with language delays. We hypothesize that children
      whose parents who learn to use language support strategies at home will have greater language
      skills than those children whose parents do not learn the strategies.
    

Detailed description: 
      The goal of the proposed project is to conduct an efficacy trial to determine whether
      Enhanced Milieu Teaching (EMT) significantly improves language deficits in young children at
      high risk for persistent language delays. The target population is children ages 24 -36
      months who exhibit significant co-occurring delays in productive and receptive language
      skills, who have cognitive skills within the range of normal development, and who do not have
      other identified disabilities. An empirically based and manualized language intervention,
      Enhanced Milieu Teaching (EMT), implemented by therapists and parents will be compared to
      community based "business as usual" services in a randomized experiment enrolling 120
      children and their parents. Children assigned to the EMT group will receive 24, 1-hour
      sessions of direct intervention at home that will include teaching their parents to implement
      EMT procedures across activities. Children will be assessed at 4 time points (before and
      after intervention, at 6 months and 12 months post-intervention) allowing the description and
      comparison of individual language growth trajectories over a period of 18 months. In
      addition, we will examine the relation between language growth and emergent problems in
      behavior and social skill development to determine whether early language intervention can
      prevent these difficulties frequently associated with early language delays. Results from
      this study will determine the efficacy of parent-plus-therapist implemented EMT with a new
      population of children, provide evidence about the potential for preventing persistent
      language delays and secondary social effects of early language delays, and expand
      developmental theory linking persistent language delays to specific risk factors and
      behavioral outcomes. The results of this study will have specific policy implications related
      to early identification and the inclusion of young children with language delays as a target
      population for early intervention.
    

Intervention name(s): Enhanced Milieu Teaching
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Enhanced Milieu Teaching (EMT) is a conversation-based model of early language intervention that uses child interest and initiations as opportunities to model and prompt language use in everyday contexts.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: language impairment; language disorder; language delay; late talkers; late talking