Community speech and language therapy for preschool children has little impact

Most speech and language therapy is directed at children. Knowledge about the natural course of early speech and language delay is limited, and evidence on effectiveness is equivocal. Glogowska et al (p 923) compared outcomes for 159 children randomly allocated to low levels of community based speech and language therapy (71) and "watchful waiting" (88). Therapy was not effective, and after one year 70% of all the children in the study still had substantial speech and language deficits. Service providers should reconsider how to target these children. Further research should focus on the optimal timing and amount of therapy for children with varying degrees of difficulty.

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Relevant Article

Randomised controlled trial of community based speech and language therapy in preschool children

Margaret Glogowska, Sue Roulstone, Pam Enderby, and Tim J Peters
BMJ 2000 321: 923. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]