Efficacy of Interventions Targeting Language Comprehension

Abstract

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are to employ evidence-based practices found in the research literature. Evidence of the effectiveness of therapy for older children with developmental language disorder (DLD), and particularly those with oral language comprehension/receptive language impairments, is very limited (Boyle et al., 2010; Ebbels et al., 2017). In young children, some language difficulties are ameliorated through maturation and intervention (Law et al., 2000). If children age 5 years and older still present language difficulties, it is likely that these difficulties will persist in some form also later in life (Bishop et al., 2017). The age of the individual may also affect what kind of interventions should be used. The authors of this article conducted a systematic scoping review of literature on oral language comprehension interventions. Their intent was to develop an overview on the topic and to summarize the findings of the current research. The authors found a limited number of studies in general and a very small number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Consequently, a systematic review including only RCTs was not considered to be the best option, and it was decided to look for evidence from studies conducted with various research designs. School-age children and adolescents between 5 and 17 years of age with DLD were the target population of the review. The intervention was defined as an intervention aiming to improve oral language comprehension on its own or together with expressive language. The outcomes were skills in one or more areas contributing to oral language comprehension. The research questions for the review were the following: