Let's explore how improved communication skills can impact other developmental domains for your child. 

Parent lead or facilitated language intervention can have many benefits for both children and their parents. There have been studies completed around programs designed by health professionals and the impact they have on parents, children, and their overall development.

In this blog we will explore how improved communication skills can result in development of other areas for children and have positive affects all round.

Behaviour and Social-emotional skills:

When children have delays in their language and communication skills you may also see them have difficulties with their behaviour or social and emotional skills. This may be seen through:

• Increased amount of tantrums and becoming aggressive towards others through hitting

• Difficulty managing their emotions

• Difficulty communicating emotions which leads to more frequent and longer tantrums

• Difficulty understanding their emotions

Often these behaviours can occur due to the child having difficulty with communication and being able to express themselves effectively.

Research has been conducted (links below) to determine if having parents involved in language intervention programs would show positive impact on the children’s overall behaviour and social-emotional skills. The study indicated:

• Improved behaviours: Children were observed to have less frequent behavioural difficulties. According to parents, the children didn’t have as many tantrums, were able to engage better in activities and were less often becoming upset when plans didn’t turn out in their favour.

• Increase in parent-child interactions: Overall better quality interactions between parents and children. Utilising the skills learnt within parent led intervention programs and building strategies into their daily routines.

• Improved communication: By increasing children’s language skills they can build their understanding of emotions and ability to communication their feelings.

This shows the power in parents up skilling to learn how to promote their child’s communication development. By doing so, they may also experience other positive development also.

Social Communication Development

When children are learning to communicate, they are learning more than just words and sentences. Communication also involves the skills of knowing how to use language when interacting with others. Therefore, when learning communication, children are also learning back and forth conversation skills, understanding nonverbal communication cues, and building skills to alter their language for different contexts. This all refers to the development of social communication. A vital developmental area for communication, because if we had no one to talk to, we wouldn't be communicating much.

A study was conducted to determine, if a parent program based on the idea that children learn language best through routines and social interactions, would improve children’s vocabulary and social communication skills.

Here at House of Speech, and within speech pathology practise, we believe that children learn language and communication skills best through parental input during routines and social contexts. This is why our courses and support is aim at up skilling and developing parents to implement evidence based strategies at home, under the guidance of a speech pathologist. A study was conducted which looked at a parent program based on this idea, and the improvement in children’s language skills and social communication skills.

Within this study, they compared two different groups. One group was for parents completing the course and then applying strategies to their everyday context, and the other group engaged in 1:1 face to face therapy with a speech pathologist.

The results indicated:

• both groups of children had improved language skills (vocabulary and grammar)

• For parents engaging in the learning and implementing strategies at home, their children showed more developed social communication skills.

• Parents had a better perception of their child’s communication development after engaging in the program rather than face to face therapy.

It was also raised from the research that the parent program was a more efficient and cost effective way than traditional speech therapy.

What is the main takeaway from all this?

These studies and points risen show that their are many benefits to a parent program for helping families improve beyond interaction and language skills. You may see:

• behaviours reducing due to being more regulated and able to communicate

• social communication skills developing to build conversation skills

• parents experience better perceptions of their child’s communication

• less time being spent attending therapy and less money spent.

Unsure if your child is meeting their milestones?

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References:

1. Rose, T., Scarinci, N., Meyer, C., Harris, S., Forsingdal, S., Anger, N., & Webb, K. (2020). The It Takes Two to Talk® – The Hanen Program® for Parents: impacts on child behaviour and social-emotional functioning. Speech, Language and Hearing, 23 (3), 180-188. DOI: 10.1080/2050571X.2019.1622832

2. Senent-Capuz, N., Baixauli Fortea, I., & Moret-Tatay, C. (2021). Parent-Implemented Hanen Program It Takes Two to Talk®: An Exploratory Study in Spain. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(15): 8214. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18158214