Parent-mediated interventions for promoting communication and language development in young children with Down syndrome.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: O'Toole C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6516877 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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| S-EPMC6513435 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Early years interventions have shown to be effective in improving the social communication and language skills of autistic children. Therefore, various play-based interventions have been developed to support those developmental areas of autistic children. Although researchers have previously reported the overall effectiveness of different types of play-based interventions on the social communication and language skills of autistic children, no previous systematic reviews have yet evaluated the effectiveness of parent-mediated play-based interventions in preschool autistic children. The overarching aims of the study will be to (i) report the key characteristics and (ii) synthesise the results of studies evaluating parent-mediated play-based interventions targeting the social communication and language skills of preschool autistic children using experimental designs. A comprehensive search for and screening of the relevant studies published between 2000 and 2021 will be undertaken. To be included, studies will have to (i) use either a randomised control trial or quasi-experimental design, (ii) focus on preschool autistic children aged six years old or younger, (iii) deliver a play-based intervention in non-educational settings, and (iv) include at least one parent as the mediator of the intervention. Data extraction of all included studies will be undertaken using a specially devised template and they will also be assessed for risk of bias using an adapted form from the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. The overall characteristics of the included studies will be reported and a narrative synthesis of the results of the included studies will be undertaken. A meta-analysis may be performed (if justified) to report the pooled effect size of the parent-mediated play-based interventions on the social communication and language skills of preschool autistic children. Trial registration: The current study protocol was pre-registered with the international prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO: CRD42022302220).
| S-EPMC9377609 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Down syndrome is the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability, affecting 700-800 babies annually in the UK (Wu J, Morris J, Eur J Hum Genet 21:1016-9, 2013). Children with Down syndrome have difficulties developing language skills. These difficulties can have long-term negative consequences for all aspects of their lives including social development, education and employment opportunities, and emotional wellbeing and mental health (Irwin LG et. al 2007). These aspects all have the potential to be improved through targeted early language intervention. Parents and Children Together (PACT) is a parent-delivered early language teaching programme for typically developing pre-school children at risk of language delays. A previous project (Burgoyne K, J Child Psychol Psychiatry 59(5):545-55, 2018) showed that PACT leads to improvements in children's language and early literacy skills. Our team has worked closely with six families to adapt PACT for children with Down syndrome. The aim of the current study is to conduct a feasibility randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the feasibility of a definitive RCT and explore initial evidence of the adapted programme's potential to support children's language and literacy development. This is a two-arm feasibility randomised controlled trial in which children will be randomly allocated to either a PACT-DS group or to a waiting control group (who will receive intervention at the end of the project). We aim to recruit 28-30 children with Down syndrome (aged 3-6 years) and their parents/caregivers to take part. The PACT-DS group will be trained to deliver PACT-DS every day (20 min a day; 5 days a week) to their child over 30 weeks. We will collect data using assessments of child language and early literacy, measures of parent wellbeing, qualitative surveys and interviews, and monitoring data to explore trial feasibility (including recruitment and retention of families and adherence and acceptability of intervention) and cost and benefits. Data will be collected before intervention, immediately after the 30-week intervention programme, and 6 months after intervention ends. Clear progression criteria will be used to assess suitability for a definitive trial. This study represents initial steps in developing a definitive trial of the PACT-DS programme and will add to the limited evidence base on early language intervention for children with Down syndrome. This programme of research has the potential to make significant advancements in early language intervention research and practice for this group. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry: study ID ISRCTN63251282 . Registered on 14 July 2023.
| S-EPMC10702108 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveTo assess whether parent training in behavioral intervention, combined with a 16-session nutrition and activity education program, would improve weight loss relative to nutrition and activity education alone in adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome.Study designTwenty-one patients with Down syndrome aged 13-26 years with a body mass index ? 85 th percentile were enrolled and randomized to a 6-month nutrition and activity education intervention (n = 10) or to a nutrition and activity education+behaviorial intervention (n = 11), and followed for 6 months after the active intervention period (1-year follow-up). The primary outcome measure was body weight; secondary outcomes included percentage body fat by bioelectric impedance; intake of fruits, vegetables, and energy-dense low-nutrient snack food (treats) by 3-day food record; and moderate/vigorous physical activity by accelerometry.ResultsAt 6 months, mean body weight in the nutrition and activity education+behavioral intervention group was 3.2 kg lower than that in the nutrition and activity education group (95% CI, 1.0-5.5 kg; P = .005). Mean group differences were sustained at 1 year (3.6 kg; 95% CI, 1.4-5.9 kg; P = .002). At 6 months, moderate/vigorous physical activity time increased by an average of 18 minutes/day compared with baseline in the nutrition and activity education+behavioral intervention group (P = .01) and decreased by 7 minutes/day in the nutrition and activity education group (P = .30). These changes were largely maintained at 1 year, but were not statistically significant. Vegetable intake in the nutrition and activity education+behavioral intervention group exceeded that in the nutrition and activity education group by a mean of 1.6 servings at 1 year (P = .009), but not at 6 months. No between-group differences were observed for percentage body fat or consumption of fruits or treats.ConclusionParent-supported behavioral intervention appears to be a successful adjunct to a 6-month nutrition education intervention in achieving weight loss in adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome.
| S-EPMC3812279 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIt is not known whether early intervention can improve long-term autism symptom outcomes. We aimed to follow-up the Preschool Autism Communication Trial (PACT), to investigate whether the PACT intervention had a long-term effect on autism symptoms and continued effects on parent and child social interaction.MethodsPACT was a randomised controlled trial of a parent-mediated social communication intervention for children aged 2-4 years with core autism. Follow-up ascertainment was done at three specialised clinical services centres in the UK (London, Manchester, and Newcastle) at a median of 5·75 years (IQR 5·42-5·92) from the original trial endpoint. The main blinded outcomes were the comparative severity score (CSS) from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), the Dyadic Communication Assessment Measure (DCMA) of the proportion of child initiatiations when interacting with the parent, and an expressive-receptive language composite. All analyses followed the intention-to-treat principle. PACT is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN58133827.Findings121 (80%) of the 152 trial participants (59 [77%] of 77 assigned to PACT intervention vs 62 [83%] of 75 assigned to treatment as usual) were traced and consented to be assessed between July, 2013, and September, 2014. Mean age at follow-up was 10·5 years (SD 0·8). Group difference in favour of the PACT intervention based on ADOS CSS of log-odds effect size (ES) was 0·64 (95% CI 0·07 to 1·20) at treatment endpoint and ES 0·70 (95% CI -0·05 to 1·47) at follow-up, giving an overall reduction in symptom severity over the course of the whole trial and follow-up period (ES 0·55, 95% CI 0·14 to 0·91, p=0·004). Group difference in DCMA child initiations at follow-up showed a Cohen's d ES of 0·29 (95% CI -0.02 to 0.57) and was significant over the course of the study (ES 0·33, 95% CI 0·11 to 0·57, p=0·004). There were no group differences in the language composite at follow-up (ES 0·15, 95% CI -0·23 to 0·53).InterpretationThe results are the first to show long-term symptom reduction after a randomised controlled trial of early intervention in autism spectrum disorder. They support the clinical value of the PACT intervention and have implications for developmental theory.FundingMedical Research Council.
| S-EPMC5121131 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Lay abstractImproving social communication is often one goal during early autism services. However, researchers do not yet know whether their ideas about which social communication skills should be targeted during services for young autistic children are the same as the goals of autism community members, such as parents, teachers, and expert clinicians. This study used focus groups (meetings of small groups of community members) to ask people from these groups about what aspects of social communication are most important to support in young autistic children. A total of 43 people participated in these focus groups. These groups included parents (three groups; 21 people), teachers (two groups; 8 people), and experts in early social communication and autism (two groups; 14 people). Focus group participants talked about several aspects of social communication that were already familiar to the research team, such as problems with expressive communication, language understanding, and social interaction. However, participants also talked about several parts of social communication that were less familiar to the research team and had usually not been mentioned in previous research. These included (1) considering the value of unusual forms of communication, (2) taking context and setting into account when considering social communication, and (3) how communication and emotion regulation impact one another. The information from these focus groups will be helpful to making sure that researchers and clinicians focus their social communication supports on areas that are most important to parents and teachers.
| S-EPMC10811291 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In this study, the authors examined the expressive language abilities of a subset of highly verbally expressive adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome (DS) and those with fragile X syndrome (FXS) for evidence of syndrome-related differences. FXS gender differences were also examined in an exploratory fashion.The authors evaluated 24 adolescents and young adults with DS, 17 adolescents and young adults with FXS, and 21 children with typical development (TD), with the groups matched on nonverbal mental age. Language ability was examined using the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS; Carrow-Woolfolk, 1995) and Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS; Lee, 1974) scores derived from an oral narrative language sample.Study analyses revealed the following group differences: The FXS group outperformed the DS and TD groups on the OWLS measure; the TD group outperformed both other groups on some of the DSS measures; the FXS group outperformed the DS group on the DSS Sentence Point measure; and females with FXS outperformed males with FXS on several measures.Results contribute to the ongoing construction of the language phenotypes of individuals with DS and individuals with FXS and support the conclusion that there are quantitative rather than qualitative differences in their expressive language profiles.
| S-EPMC2948067 | biostudies-other
Project description:Results of small trials suggest that early interventions for social communication are effective for the treatment of autism in children. We therefore investigated the efficacy of such an intervention in a larger trial.Children with core autism (aged 2 years to 4 years and 11 months) were randomly assigned in a one-to-one ratio to a parent-mediated communication-focused (Preschool Autism Communication Trial [PACT]) intervention or treatment as usual at three specialist centres in the UK. Those assigned to PACT were also given treatment as usual. Randomisation was by use of minimisation of probability in the marginal distribution of treatment centre, age (</=42 months or >42 months), and autism severity (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic [ADOS-G] algorithm score 12-17 or 18-24). Primary outcome was severity of autism symptoms (a total score of social communication algorithm items from ADOS-G, higher score indicating greater severity) at 13 months. Complementary secondary outcomes were measures of parent-child interaction, child language, and adaptive functioning in school. Analysis was by intention to treat. This study is registered as an International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial, number ISRCTN58133827.152 children were recruited. 77 were assigned to PACT (London [n=26], Manchester [n=26], and Newcastle [n=25]); and 75 to treatment as usual (London [n=26], Manchester [n=26], and Newcastle [n=23]). At the 13-month endpoint, the severity of symptoms was reduced by 3.9 points (SD 4.7) on the ADOS-G algorithm in the group assigned to PACT, and 2.9 (3.9) in the group assigned to treatment as usual, representing a between-group effect size of -0.24 (95% CI -0.59 to 0.11), after adjustment for centre, sex, socioeconomic status, age, and verbal and non-verbal abilities. Treatment effect was positive for parental synchronous response to child (1.22, 0.85 to 1.59), child initiations with parent (0.41, 0.08 to 0.74), and for parent-child shared attention (0.33, -0.02 to 0.68). Effects on directly assessed language and adaptive functioning in school were small.On the basis of our findings, we cannot recommend the addition of the PACT intervention to treatment as usual for the reduction of autism symptoms; however, a clear benefit was noted for parent-child dyadic social communication.UK Medical Research Council, and UK Department for Children, Schools and Families.
| S-EPMC2890859 | biostudies-other
Project description:This study explored whether young children with Down syndrome show praxis deficits that impact activities of daily living, and whether these deficits are specific to Down syndrome. We compared the performance of young children with Down syndrome, a mental age-matched group of children with developmental disabilities of mixed or unknown etiologies, and a group of typically developing infants and toddlers on praxis tasks and overall adaptive behavior (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales). Children with Down syndrome showed poorer overall motor functioning than the developmental disabilities comparison group as measured by the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, F(2, 47) = 5.24, p < .01 (using one-way analysis of variance [ANOVA]). A one-way multivariate analysis of variance also showed that children with Down syndrome performed significantly worse overall than the developmental disabilities comparison group on a battery of praxis tasks, F(7, 18) = 2.95, p < .05, and a series of object retrieval tasks, F(7, 18) = 2.95, p < .05, suggesting a deficit in praxis that is specific to Down syndrome. Children with Down syndrome elicited significantly more help than both comparison groups during object retrieval trials, F(2, 48) = 4.94, p < .01 (using one-way ANOVA). When chronological age was partialled out, a strong relationship was observed between praxis and adaptive functioning in Down syndrome, r(8) = .69, p < .05. These findings suggest that young children with Down syndrome may need targeted interventions that focus on both praxis skills and motivational orientation.
| S-EPMC4512666 | biostudies-other
Project description:A battery of 17 rating items were applied to video records of typically-developing toddlers and young children with autism and Down syndrome interacting with their parents during the Communication Play Protocol. This battery provided a reliable and broad view of the joint engagement triad of child, partner, and shared topic. Ratings of the child's joint engagement correlated very strongly with state coding of joint engagement and replicated the finding that coordinated joint engagement was less likely in children with autism. Ratings of other child actions, of parent contributions, and of shared topics and communicative dynamics also documented pervasive variations related to diagnosis, language facility, and communicative context.
| S-EPMC3445743 | biostudies-literature