The study design of ComAlong Toddler: a randomised controlled trial of an early communication intervention

Abstract

Aims: This study design article aims to describe a research study focused on evaluating the use of the Infant-Toddler Checklist to identify children at 18 months with early communication difficulties, and to study the ComAlong Toddler intervention for parents to support their child’s communication development. Background: Communication disorders are a common public health problem affecting up to 20% of children. Evidence points to the importance of early detection and intervention to improve young children’s communicative abilities and decrease developmental delay. Early identification of communication difficulties is possible with instruments such as Infant-Toddler Checklist. The ComAlong Toddler intervention is tailored to the needs of parents of young children with communication delay before definitive diagnosis. The parents are provided with guidance in communication enhancing strategies during home visit and five group sessions. Methods: The study uses a prospective cohort design. Children were consecutively recruited during 2015–2017, and data will be collected 2015–2023. The screening was performed at the child health centre through use of the Infant-Toddler Checklist. An assessment and first consultation were then performed by a speech and language therapist for children with suspected communication delay according to the screen as well as for children referred for other reasons before the age of 2.5 years. Children with confirmed communication delay were randomised between two interventions: the ComAlong Toddler parental course or a telephone follow-up. Outcome measures include child communication and language skills and use of augmentative and alternative communication. To gain insight into the participants’ perspectives, surveys have been collected from parents. Conclusion: The study will provide information regarding identification and intervention for 18-month old children with communication delay. Trial registration: ISRCTN13330627

Infant‐Toddler Checklist identifies 18‐month‐old children with communication difficulties in the Swedish child healthcare setting

“…These 27 children were offered to take part in a randomised controlled trial of an early communication intervention. Parents who declined participation were treated in standard care with further assessments and contingent interventions 24 …”

“…The ITC was collected at the 18-month child health visit along with a questionnaire regarding social and economic conditions as previously described. 24 The ITC was sent to the families by mail prior to the visit. During the visit, the nurse reviewed the ITC form and scored the screen as positive or negative based on American norms.…”

“All of a sudden we noticed a difference at home too”: parents’ perception of a parent-focused early communication and AAC intervention for toddlers

“…The recordings were transcribed verbatim by external transcribers. The analysis was conducted inductively through qualitative content analysis with open coding (Elo & Kyng€ as, 2008;Graneheim & Lundman, 2004), grounded in the researchers' pre-knowledge about language and communication disorders as well as the intervention (Malterud, 2014).…”

“…According to the chosen method of analysis, the subcategories and categories were at the same level of abstraction and relevant to the research questions. For each subcategory, the participants' expressions were presented as representative quotes (Elo & Kyng€ as, 2008). No member checking was performed.…”

Level of Vocabulary Development and Selected Elements Regarding Sensory Integration and Balance in 5-Year-Old Girls and Boys

“…Language is the human ability to express and communicate desires, feelings, and thoughts through a system of specific signals, such as sounds, voice, written symbols, and gestures, whereas speech is an act of expression or the ability to describe desires, feelings, and thoughts in words or by voice communication. A child’s vocabulary, on the other hand, is the total words known to a child, depending on age, experience, intelligence, and language skills [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. It is the basic component of systemic language competence, the essence of which is the ability to build an unlimited number of correct sentences from a limited number of words [ 4 , 5 ].…”