Seeking Validation and Creating Meaningful Interactions: Perceptions of a Parent-Mediated Infant Intervention.

Infancy, a formative period for development, has been identified as an advantageous time to provide family-centered support for children with delays. Families should be included as stakeholders during development of such interventions to ensure social value. We describe a preliminary randomized controlled trial evaluating Infant Achievements (IA), an 8-week (16-session) parent-mediated intervention for parents of infants 8-12 months old with social communication delays. This study reports our qualitative examination of the intervention's social validity. We conducted focus groups with 7 IA parent participants and analyzed their responses using conventional content analysis. Five themes emerged: (a) difficulty identifying resources to address concerns, (b) seeking validation of concerns, (c) seeking support to enhance children's development, (d) experiencing a supportive coaching relationship, and (e) creating meaningful interactions to support children's communication and social skills. Our results emphasize the necessity of partnering with families in the development of evidence-based family-centered interventions for infants with developmental delays to maximize their social value.

Caregivers' Perceptions of COVID-19 Educational Disruptions on Children With Developmental Language Disorder and Typically Developing Peers.

PURPOSE: Understanding the experiences of families of children with developmental language disorder (DLD) during COVID-19 educational disruptions is essential for designing responsive supports during pandemic recovery efforts and beyond. This qualitative study describes the experiences of families of first- and second-grade children with DLD during the pandemic as compared to the experiences of families of typically developing (TD) peers. METHOD: A conventional content analysis approach was used to analyze caregivers' written responses to open-ended questions regarding their perceptions of COVID-19 educational disruptions. Responses were analyzed separately by group: caregivers of children with DLD (n = 23) and caregivers of TD children (n = 22). RESULTS: Four categories of caregiver responses were generated for each group: impacts on children, remote learning challenges, impacts on caregivers, and protective factors. For both groups, concerns about the child's well-being and literacy learning were most prevalent and prevailed over concerns about oral language. Most caregivers in each group described negative impacts of educational disruptions on their cdhildren. As compared to caregivers of TD children, caregivers of children with DLD reported higher rates of remote learning challenges and more negative impacts on literacy learning, speech and/or language, and education in general. DLD caregivers also shared fewer positive comments and remarks related to protective factors. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that families of children with DLD may have experienced more challenges during COVID-19 educational disruptions as compared to families of TD peers. Thus, responsive research and supports for these families is essential.

Speech-Language Pathologists' Perceptions of Language and Literacy Instruction for Pre-K Children With Developmental Language Disorder.

PURPOSE: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have multiple roles and responsibilities related to language and literacy instruction in schools. The purpose of this exploratory, qualitative study was to analyze school-based SLPs' perceptions related to effective language and early literacy instruction for pre-K children with developmental language disorder (DLD). The goal of this study was to inform development of a new language and early literacy professional development program for inclusive pre-K teachers. METHOD: Eight school-based SLPs participated in a 1-hr virtual focus group conducted via Zoom recording technology. The researchers used a conventional content analysis approach to analyze the focus group data and identify themes from the discussion. RESULTS: The researchers developed two themes: (a) SLPs identified repeated exposure to books, peer interaction, and teaching vocabulary with visual supports and props as key elements of language and literacy instruction that can be integrated into a variety of contexts, and (b) SLPs want more time with parents and teachers to support their book reading and model specific language strategies. CONCLUSIONS: SLPs identified several instructional practices inclusive pre-K teachers could be taught to use during professional development programs to support the emergent literacy development of children with DLD. They also discussed the need for ongoing collaboration between SLPs, caregivers, and teachers to maximize children's early language and literacy experiences. Future research should explore the impact of partnerships with caregivers and teachers on children's language and literacy outcomes.

Assessing Generalization During Professional Development in Child Care: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Early childhood care and education providers provide instruction to diverse learners, including children with developmental delays, but often lack training in the use of evidence-based instructional strategies to support children's meaningful learning engagement. This preliminary study examined effects of the Early Achievements for Child Care Providers professional development program with and without generalization training on center-based child care providers (N = 12). Outcomes assessed included providers' implementation fidelity, knowledge, and self-efficacy as well as children's (N = 43) social-communication skills and engagement in shared book reading. Results demonstrated that providers trained in a generalization context made larger gains in implementation fidelity in a generalization context; no other significant between-group differences were found for providers. Children in both groups made comparable, significant gains. Findings suggest that explicit generalization training is needed for providers to achieve fidelity when transferring newly learned evidence-based practices to additional classroom instructional contexts, but a brief interval of implementation likely is insufficient to differentially benefit child outcomes. Researchers should elicit providers' perceptions when designing professional development programs to maximize feasibility of investing additional time and resources for generalization training.

Profiles and correlates of language and social communication differences among young autistic children.

Delays in early language development are characteristic of young autistic children, and one of the most recognizable first concerns that motivate parents to seek a diagnostic evaluation for their child. Although early language abilities are one of the strongest predictors of long-term outcomes, there is still much to be understood about the role of language impairment in the heterogeneous phenotypic presentation of autism. Using a person-centered, Latent Profile Analysis, we first aimed to identify distinct patterns of language and social communication ability in a clinic-based sample of 498 autistic children, ranging in age from 18 to 60 months (M = 33 mo, SD = 12 mo). Next, a multinomial logistic regression analysis was implemented to examine sociodemographic and child-based developmental differences among the identified language and social communication profiles. Three clinically meaningful profiles were identified from parent-rated and clinician-administered measures: Profile 1 (48% of the sample) "Relatively Low Language and Social Communication Abilities," Profile 2 (34% of the sample) "Relatively Elevated Language and Social Communication Abilities," and Profile 3 (18% of the sample) "Informant Discrepant Language and Relatively Elevated Social Communication Abilities." Overall, young autistic children from the lowest-resource households exhibited the lowest language and social communication abilities, and the lowest non-verbal problem-solving and fine-motor skills, along with more features of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and atypical auditory processing. These findings highlight the need for effective community-based implementation strategies for young autistic children from low-resource households and underrepresented communities to improve access to individualized quality care.

A National Survey of Speech-Language Pathologists' Engagement in Interprofessional Collaborative Practice in Schools: Identifying Predictive Factors and Barriers to Implementation.

Purpose This study examined the models of collaboration used by school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) during the provision of special education services including factors predicting use of the interprofessional collaborative practice (IPP) model and barriers to collaboration. Method School-based SLPs responded to a survey on models of collaboration within their work setting. Anchored vignettes were created to determine their engagement in 3 different models (i.e., multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and interprofessional) used in the provision of special education services during evaluation and intervention. Predictive factors supporting and/or hindering the use of IPP were identified. Results Results demonstrated low percentages of school-based SLPs engaging in IPP during initial evaluations (8%), eligibility meetings (43%), and intervention sessions (14%). Three factors predicted use of IPP in schools: prior training in collaboration, years of experience, and educational setting. The most frequently cited barriers to SLPs' engagement in collaboration included time constraints/scheduling (48%), resistance from other professionals (23%), and lack of support from employers/administration (11%). Conclusions The results of the current study indicated that systemic change is needed at both the university and public school levels. At the university level, preprofessional students need collaborative learning opportunities that are integrated across programs and colleges. School-based SLPs and other education professionals could benefit from job-embedded learning focused on IPP to increase their knowledge and engagement in IPP and improve student outcomes. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.9340760.