Parental Responses to Prelinguistic Vocalizations of Very Young Children with Typical Development: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Parental contingent responses (PCRs) to infant’s vocalization are related to early communication and language development. This study identified the parental response patterns to infant vocalizations in the interaction between infants and their parents, the pattern of infant vocalizations, and parental language-expectant responses in the PCRs through a systemic literature review and meta-analysis. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), seven studies were met Participants, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, and Study design (PICOS) criteria from 8 databases. The quality of studies evaluated risk of bias and effect sizes were calculated using Hedges' <i>g</i>. As a result of systematic review, the selected studies had an overall low risk of bias, and the subjects of all studies were infants who are within 14 months and mothers. As a result of meta-analysis, PCRs to infant vocalizations were significantly higher than parental non-contingent responses. Language-expectant responses appeared significantly more than language non-expectant responses in PCRs. This study showed that parents are more likely to respond verbally to their infants’ vocalizations with their infants, suggesting the significant role is very important in early interaction. These finding may provide foundation material to guide early intervention and parent coaching for infants at risk for communication disorders.