Facilitated playgroups to promote speech and language skills of young children with communication delays: A pilot study

Family-centered practices that build caregiver capacity are a central focus of early intervention services for young children with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of adapting the ‘Parents Interacting with Infants’ (PIWI) facilitated playgroup model to target effective communication strategies for parents of young children with communication delays. A concurrent multiple baseline across behaviors design with three parent–child dyads was used to determine the effects of the weekly facilitated playgroup model on parents’ successful implementation of communicative strategies and the effects on the children’s communication behaviors. Visual analysis revealed a functional relationship between the seven-week intervention and an increase in parent and child outcomes. Results support the feasibility of using a facilitated playgroup model to enhance parents’ ability to implement effective communication strategies with their children. Clinical implications and future directions for research are discussed.