|
|
Early childhood language and communication interventions have been shown to be effective, but the long-term effects of these interventions are less understood. The purpose of the current systematic literature review was to describe the features, effects, and rigor of early communication intervention studies with long-term timepoints. We conducted an online literature search and coded important study features. We identified 17 intervention studies with unique participant samples. Outcomes of interest were measured 3–71 months post-intervention. The size and significance of long-term intervention effects varied by study, outcome, and timepoint, but most studies reported at least one intervention effect that was significant at a long-term timepoint. Many effect sizes decreased by later timepoints. We identified several frequently occurring risk of bias issues in these studies. Future research should focus on measuring long-term outcomes and related variables within sound research designs to contribute to development of interventions with lasting effects. This research was funded in part by an OSEP Doctoral Leadership Training grant #H325D180095 (A Kaiser, PI) and a graduate training fellowship from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. |
|