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The Effects of Focused Stimulation for Promoting Vocabulary in Young Children with Delays

A Pilot Study

University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Luigi Girolametto, Ph.D., is a faculty member in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto. His research has focused on investigations of the interactive model of language intervention for children with developmental and/or language delays. ADDRESS CORRESPONDENCE TO: Luigi Girolametto, Ph.D. Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Tanz Neuroscience Building, 6 Queen's Park Crescent West, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3H2

Patsy Steig Pearce, MS

Centenary Health Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Patsy Steig Pearce, MS, is a speech-language pathologist formerly employed at the Centenary Health Centre who has many years of experience in training caregivers to implement language intervention. She is certified by The Hanen Centre to provide parent programs.

Elaine Weitzman, Med

The Hanen Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Elaine Weitzman, MEd, is the Executive Director of The Hanen Centre, whose program is utilized as the treatment in this study. Weitzman has authored a guide to promoting children's social and language development in early childhood settings entitled Learning Language and Loving /t.

The interactive model of language intervention optimizes parent-child interaction patterns by training parents to increase their responsiveness to the child's focus and interests, and provide language models appropriate to the child's level and plan-of-the-moment. We explored the effects of a focused stimulation version of this intervention approach, in which parents used interactive intervention techniques, but targeted specific vocabulary. In this pilot study, 16 mothers and their preschool-aged children with language delays were randomly assigned to treatment and delayed-treatment (control)groups. Vocabulary targets were individually selected for each child based on the child's phonetic repertoire and parent report of vocabulary development. In accord with program objectives, children in the treatment group used more target words and acquired more symbolic play gestures than children in the control group. No significant differences were found between the two groups at posttest for control words, or for a general measure of vocabulary development. Finally, mothers of children in the experimental group reported a reduction in aggressive/destructive behaviors in their children after intervention.

Communication Disorders Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 2, 39-49 (1995)
DOI: 10.1177/152574019501700205


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