Communication intervention for individuals with Down syndrome: Systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Objective: A systematic review was conducted to identify effective intervention strategies for communication in individuals with Down syndrome. Methods: We updated and extended previous reviews by examining: (1) participant characteristics; (2) study characteristics; (3) characteristics of effective interventions (e.g., strategies and intensity); (4) whether interventions are tailored to the Down syndrome behavior phenotype; and (5) the effectiveness (i.e., percentage nonoverlapping data and Cohen’s d) of interventions. Results: Thirty-seven studies met inclusion criteria. The majority of studies used behavior analytic strategies and produced moderate gains in communication targets. Few interventions were tailored to the needs of the Down syndrome behavior phenotype. Conclusion: The results suggest that behavior analytic strategies are a promising approach, and future research should focus on replicating the effects of these interventions with greater methodological rigor.

KEYWORDS:

• Communication
• Down syndrome
• intensity
• intervention
• language
• meta-analysis

Acknowledgments

We thank Antesh Sharma for her assistance with coding articles.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.