Testing a Parent-Involved Speech Therapy to Improve Early Communication Skills in Young Children with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities

What this Trial Is About

Millions of children worldwide are diagnosed each year with neurodevelopmental disabilities, which include a variety of conditions such as genetic syndromes and brain injuries like cerebral palsy. These children often face challenges in communication, especially in social and interactive skills necessary for language development. This trial aims to assess whether an intervention involving parents and focusing on early social and communication skills can improve outcomes better than standard speech therapy in children aged 6 months to 5 years with neurodevelopmental disabilities. The study compares two groups one receives a parent-involved intervention called SPEAK, focusing on early socio-communicative and intersubjective skills, while the other undergoes standard speech therapy. Both interventions consist of eight weekly sessions lasting 45 minutes each over two months. The SPEAK intervention includes guided parent participation during activities like playtime and snack time, helping parents observe and support their childs social communication. Standard speech therapy targets vocalization, language understanding, and speech production without active parent involvement. Participants and their parents will undergo assessments before and after the interventions to evaluate the childs language, social, and communication development, as well as parenting behaviors through video-recorded parent-child interactions. Additional evaluations will measure early cognitive and emotional development. The study monitors session attendance and withdrawal reasons to track adherence. The goal is to understand how these interventions impact childrens development and parent-child interactions over the two-month treatment period.

Speech Therapy and Parenting for Early Socio-communicAtive sKills