Date of Award:

5-1989

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling

Department name when degree awarded

Special Education

Committee Chair(s)

Karl White

Committee

Karl White

Committee

Dan Morgan

Committee

Glenn Latham

Committee

Glendon Casto

Committee

Marvin Fifield

Abstract

Controversies surrounding language intervention for preschool children have primarily focused on specific issues about which approach is better than another. However, most researchers consider language intervention to be effective--even though many studies yield conflicting findings. Previous reviews on language intervention added little to resolving the controversies because of inadequate sampling procedures and insufficiently addressing methodological issues. A more systematic review of prior research was needed to clarify the status of the language intervention literature. The purpose of this study was to conduct a comprehensive integrative review of the primary research on language using a meta-analysis approach to determine the relative effectiveness of these techniques with preschool language-impaired children.

Analysis of primary studies revealed that researchers frequently reported insufficient subject and intervention characteristics, which seriously affected the generalizability of findings and the extent replications could be conducted. Furthermore, few direct comparisons were found of some of the most critical variables, such as type of intervention approach, various types of parent involvement, or age at start of intervention.

Sufficient data existed to examine only language-disordered and mentally retarded (MR) subjects. For mild language-disordered subjects, intervention appeared to be effective with less specific, less individualized methods implemented by nonprofessionals. Intervention was found to be as effective with mild MR subjects as it was with mild language-disordered subjects. Secondary neurological problems seemed to be a serious potential confound to studies using MR subjects. However, additional evidence is needed to confirm each of these findings.

Little evidence existed to recommend the use of parent involvement or nonvocal communication techniques with language- impaired children. Age at start appeared unrelated to intervention effectiveness, but few studies were available on very young children. When researchers collected data after intervention ended, long-term treatment effects diminished considerably within 1 year. Most other subject and intervention variables cited by previous reviewers lacked sufficient data to draw conclusions.

For this data set, language intervention resulted in small and moderate gains for subjects. However, because of the findings from studies using placebos, the effectiveness of language intervention for preschool children remains questionable.

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