A non-concurrent multiple baseline across participants investigation was completed to assess independent caregiver use of three language facilitation strategies following structured caregiver coaching. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of caregiver coaching on use of language facilitation strategies during daily routines in the home environment. The participants were caregivers whose children were receiving SLP services through the Missouri First Steps program. Caregivers with children age 23 months to 40 months who were diagnosed with expressive language delay participated in the study. Results showed an increase in frequency of caregiver use of all language facilitation strategies (self-talk, parallel-talk, and expansions) for all participants. All participants experienced a positive relative level of change (RLC) between the intervention and baseline phases along with a trend comparison from zero-celerating to accelerating and improved change in slope. The percentage of non-overlapping data (PND) was 100% for total use of language facilitation strategies for all participants when baseline and interventions were compared, suggesting caregivers in the home setting can be coached successfully to implement language facilitation strategies during daily routines. Future research could examine the effects of caregiver coaching with families of multiple cultures, increased duration of coaching, a larger variety of early childhood settings, and a larger diversity of caregivers (i.e., both sexes and varying ages) in an effort to expand generalization of the current investigation’s results.
Keywords: early intervention, caregiver coaching, expressive language development
