Efficacy of a peer-based in-home education program in improving social-emotional outcomes of parents and children.

Significant disparities in education and social-emotional outcomes exist between racial/ethnic groups, particularly impacting children growing up in impoverished environments. Home visitation intervention programs, such as the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), have been used for decades to improve academic readiness in these vulnerable preschool-aged children. Although the benefits of HIPPY on academic readiness and performance are well-documented, there has been no examination of social-emotional benefits to participating parent-child dyads. This study followed a HIPPY cohort over the course of 1 year to evaluate change in maternal and child social-emotional and behavioral functioning. Program participants demonstrated reduced parental stress and depression and increased parental social connection as well as reduced child externalizing behaviors and improved child adaptive functioning over the course of the program, even in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown. These data highlight the additional benefits of early home-based academic intervention programs.

Las significativas disparidades en educación y resultados socioemocionales existen entre grupos raciales/étnicos, ejerciendo particularmente un impacto en los niños que crecen en ambientes empobrecidos. Los programas de intervención de visitas a casa, tales como la Instrucción en el Hogar para Padres y Niños Pequeños en Edad Prescolar (HIPPY), han sido utilizados por décadas para mejorar la preparación académica en estos niños de edad prescolar vulnerables. A pesar de que los beneficios de HIPPY en cuanto a preparación y rendimiento académicos están bien documentados, no se ha dado una revisión de los beneficios socioemocionales para las díadas progenitor-niño que participan. Este estudio le dio seguimiento a un grupo de HIPPY a lo largo del curso de un año para evaluar el cambio en el funcionamiento socioemocional y de comportamiento materno y en el niño. Los participantes en el programa demostraron un reducido nivel de estrés y depresión en progenitores y un aumento en la conexión social de progenitores, así como niveles reducidos de comportamiento externalizantes en el niño y un incremento en el funcionamiento de adaptación del niño a lo largo del curso del programa, aun dentro del contexto de la pandemia del COVID-19 y el aislamiento que con ella se asocia. Estos datos subrayan los beneficios adicionales de programas tempranos de intervención académica en casa.

Des inégalités importantes dans l'éducation et les résultats socio-émotionnels existent entre les groupes raciaux/ethniques, ce qui impacte particulièrement les enfants grandissant dans des milieux appauvris. Des programmes d'intervention de visite à domicile, comme le programme d'Instruction à Domicile de Parents de Jeunes Enfants d'Age Préscolaire (abrégé HIPPY en anglais), ont été utilisés depuis des dizaines d'années afin d'améliorer la préparation académique de ces enfants vulnérables d'âge préscolaire. Bien que les bénéfices du programme HIPPY sur la préparation académique et la performance académique soit bien documentée, les bénéfices socio-émotionnels de la participation des dyades parent-enfant n'ont jamais été examinés. Cette étude a donc suivi une cohorte HIPPY au cours d'une année afin d'évaluer le changement dans le fonctionnement émotionnel et comportemental maternel et de l'enfant. Les participantes ou participants au programme ont fait preuve d'une réduction du stress parental et de la dépression et de plus de lien social parental ainsi qu'une réduction de comportements d'externalisation de l'enfant et d'un fonctionnement adaptatif de l'enfant amélioré au cours du programme, même dans le contexte de la pandémie du covid-19 et du confinement. Ces données mettent en évidence les bénéfices supplémentaires des programmes d'intervention académique précoce à domicile.

Interventions Designed to Improve Narrative Language in School-Age Children: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analyses.

Purpose The purpose of this systematic review with meta-analyses was to examine interventions that aimed to improve narrative language outcomes for preschool and elementary school-age children in the United States. Our goal was to examine peer-reviewed publications to describe the characteristics of these interventions and synthesize their overall effectiveness on narrative comprehension and production via meta-analysis. Method We searched electronic databases, examined previously published reviews, and consulted experts in the field to identify published studies that employed robust experimental and quasi-experimental designs. We included randomized controlled trials, studies with nonrandomized comparison groups, and single-case design (SCD) studies. We completed a qualitative synthesis of study factors for all identified studies and calculated meta-analyses for the studies that had sufficient data. All included studies were analyzed for risk of bias. Results Our systematic search yielded 40 studies that included one or more narrative language outcomes as part of their assessment battery. Twenty-four of the included studies were group design studies, including randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental designs, and the other 16 were SCD studies. Effect sizes were analyzed based on narrative production and comprehension outcomes. The meta-analyses of 26 studies indicated overall positive effects of the interventions, with effect sizes of d = 0.51 and 0.54 in the group design studies and d = 1.24 in the SCD studies. Conclusions A variety of effective interventions were found that improve narrative production and comprehension outcomes in children with diverse learner characteristics. Some common characteristics across these interventions include manualized curricula, opportunities to produce narrative language, verbal and visual supports, direct instruction of story grammar, and use of authentic children's literature. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.15079173.

Moving Forward Four Words at a Time: Effects of a Supplemental Preschool Vocabulary Intervention.

Purpose This study evaluated the effects of an automated, small-group intervention designed to teach preschoolers challenging vocabulary words. Previous studies have provided evidence of efficacy. In this study, we evaluated the effects of the program after doubling the number of words taught from 2 to 4 words per book. Method Seventeen preschool children listened to 1 prerecorded book per week for 9 weeks. Each storybook had embedded, interactive lessons for 4 target vocabulary words. Each lesson provided repeated exposures to words and their definitions, child-friendly contexts, and multiple opportunities for children to respond verbally to instructional prompts. Participants were asked to define the weekly targeted vocabulary before and after intervention. A repeated acquisition single-case design was used to examine the effects of the books and embedded lessons on learning of target vocabulary words. Results Treatment effects were observed for all children across many of the books. Learning of at least 2 points (i.e., 1 word) was replicated for 74.5% of 149 books tested across the 17 participants. On average, children learned to define 47% of the target vocabulary words (17 out of 36). Conclusions Results support including 4 challenging words per book, as children learned substantially more words when 4 words were taught, in comparison to previous studies. Within an iterative development process, results of the current study take us 1 step closer to creating an optimal vocabulary intervention that supports the language development of at-risk children.