Pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial of contextualised grammar teaching and small group teaching to improve the writing skills of 11 year old children

Introduction: We evaluated two interventions: a contextualised grammar teaching intervention – Grammar for Writing - to assess whether it improved 11 year old children’s writing skills; and a small group literacy intervention to assess whether or not this was effective. Design and method: We used a pragmatic cluster randomised trial with partial split plot design. Independent concealed randomisation was undertaken at the class level, and, within the intervention group, children were also individually randomised to receive the whole class intervention plus a small group intervention or to receive the intervention in a whole class setting only. The main outcomes were writing and reading assessed by the Progress in English 11 (Long Form) test (GL Assessment). Results: In 2013, 55 schools in England, each with two classes, were recruited and randomised. Within each school, the two classes were randomly allocated to receive either the intervention or the control condition. After randomisation, 2 schools withdrew, leaving 53 schools, 106 classes and 2510 pupils. We observed an effect size (ES) of 0.10 favouring the Grammar for Writing classes; however, this was not statistically significant (95% confidence interval (CI) -0.10 to 0.31). Pupils randomised to the small groups had an increased literacy score when compared with the control classes (ES = 0.24, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.49) and when compared with the intervention children taught in the whole class (ES = 0.21, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.38). Conclusion: There is little evidence that this form of contextualised grammar teaching had an effect on 11 year old children’s writing skills. There was some evidence of an effect for small group teaching

Play-Based Interventions for Mental Health : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Focused on Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder

Background and Aims Play-based interventions are used ubiquitously with children with social, communication, and language needs but the impact of these interventions on the mental health of this atypical group of children is unknown. Despite their pre-existing challenges, the mental health of DLD and ASD children should be given equal consideration to the other more salient features of their disability. To this aim, a systematic literature review with meta-analysis was undertaken to assess the impact of play-based interventions on mental health outcomes from studies of children with DLD and ASD, as well as to identify the characteristics of research in this field. Methods The study selection process involved a rigorous systematic search of seven academic databases, double screening of abstracts, and full-text screening to identify studies using RCTs and quasi-experimental designs to assess mental health outcomes from interventions supporting children with social, communication, and language needs. For reliability, data extraction, as well as risk of bias assessments were conducted by two study authors. Qualitative data were synthesized and quantified data was used in the meta-analytic calculation. Main contribution A total of 2 882 papers were identified from the literature search which were double screened at the abstract (n = 1 785) and full-text (n= 366) levels resulting in 10 papers meeting the criteria for inclusion in the review. There were 8 RCTs and 2 quasi-experiments using 7 named play-based interventions with ASD participants only. Meta-analysis results found a significant overall intervention effect (Cohen’s d = 1.57) for studies addressing positive mental health outcomes (n = 5) in contrast to a non-significant overall intervention effect for negative mental health outcomes (Cohen’s d = -0.17). Conclusions A key observation is the diversity of study characteristics relating to study sample size, duration of interventions, study settings, background of interventionists, and variability of specific mental health outcomes. The heterogeneous nature of studies stand out although only a few studies were eligible for inclusion. Implications This review provides good evidence of the need for further research into how commonly used play-based interventions designed to support the social, communication, and language needs of students may impact the mental health of children with ASD or DLD

Parent-mediated play‐based interventions to improve social communication and language skills of preschool autistic children : A systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

Early years interventions have shown to be effective in improving the social communication and language skills of autistic children. Therefore, various play-based interventions have been developed to support those developmental areas of autistic children. Although researchers have previously reported the overall effectiveness of different types of play-based interventions on the social communication and language skills of autistic children, no previous systematic reviews have yet evaluated the effectiveness of parent-mediated play-based interventions in preschool autistic children. The overarching aims of the study will be to (i) report the key characteristics and (ii) synthesise the results of studies evaluating parent-mediated play-based interventions targeting the social communication and language skills of preschool autistic children using experimental designs. A comprehensive search for and screening of the relevant studies published between 2000 and 2021 will be undertaken. To be included, studies will have to (i) use either a randomised control trial or quasi-experimental design, (ii) focus on preschool autistic children aged six years old or younger, (iii) deliver a play-based intervention in non-educational settings, and (iv) include at least one parent as the mediator of the intervention. Data extraction of all included studies will be undertaken using a specially devised template and they will also be assessed for risk of bias using an adapted form from the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. The overall characteristics of the included studies will be reported and a narrative synthesis of the results of the included studies will be undertaken. A meta-analysis may be performed (if justified) to report the pooled effect size of the parent-mediated play-based interventions on the social communication and language skills of preschool autistic children. Trial registration: The current study protocol was pre-registered with the international prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO: CRD42022302220)

Parent-Mediated Play-Based Interventions to Improve Social Communication and Language Skills of Preschool Autistic Children : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Play-based interventions are gaining popularity amongst autistic children. Parents are uniquely placed to deliver these interventions as they are most familiar with their child’s strengths and challenges. Accordingly, reporting the effectiveness of play-based interventions and/or parent-delivered or mediated early-years interventions have been popular topics in the literature in the last decade. Despite this, little is known about the efficacy of parent-mediated play-based interventions on developmental outcomes of autistic children. To close this gap in knowledge, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and quasi-experiments focusing on social communication skills, language skills, and autistic characteristics of preschool autistic children (0-6-year-old) in non-educational settings. Overall, 26 studies met the inclusion criteria 21 of which were included in the synthesis. Of the included studies, 20 studies reported social communication skills, 15 studies reported language skills, and 12 studies reported autistic characteristics. Pooling effect sizes across the included studies showed that parent-mediated play-based interventions were effective on social communication (d=.63) and language skills (d=.40) as well as autistic characteristics (d=-.19) of preschool autistic children. The current findings suggest that parent-mediated play-based interventions hold promise for improving the quality of life for preschool autistic children