Parent and Professional Roles in Early Intervention

Abstract

This study longitudinally compares the costs and effects of two alternative forms of early intervention that differed with respect to the roles assumed by parents and professionals: a home parent training intervention and a clinic-based, low parent involvement intervention. Results of follow-up testing 42 months after the initiation of the interventions indicated that the home parent training group performed as well as the clinic-based group on measures of speech and language functioning, the primary area of delay for all subjects, as well as on measures of general development and family functioning. The comparable longitudinal effects of the two interventions examined in this study support the viability of programs that offer options to parents and the need for interventionists to be trained broadly enough to be able to assume a variety of roles and to provide a range of services.