A Guideline for Applying Systematic Reviews to Child Language Intervention

Abstract

This article focuses on applying systematic reviews to the Early Intervention (EI) literature. Systematic reviews are defined and differentiated from traditional, or narrative, reviews and from meta-analyses. In addition, the steps involved in critiquing systematic reviews and an illustration of a systematic review from the EI literature are detailed.

A Qualitative Examination of Current Guidelines for Evidence-Based Practice in Child Language Intervention

“…Little has been written about these dimensions of EBP within the profession of speech-language pathology. A procedure for achieving a proper balance among the three dimensions has not yet been fully specified, although the integration of family and client values into the EBP process has been discussed (e.g., Gillam & Gillam, 2006;Hargrove, Busch, Lund, & Griffer, 2005). Gillam and Gillam, for example, suggested that in making clinical decisions for school-aged children, it is necessary to consider the student's and parents' cultural values, the kinds of activities the student finds motivating and pleasurable, the family's financial resources, the level of parent and student engagement expected, and the student's or parents' belief system about a particular treatment method.…”