Randomized Comparison of Augmented and Nonaugmented Language Interventions for Toddlers With Developmental Delays and Their Parents

Purpose This study compared the language performance of young children with developmental delays who were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 parent-coached language interventions. Differences in performance on augmented and spoken word size and use, vocabulary size, and communication interaction skills were examined. Method Sixty-eight toddlers with fewer than 10 spoken words were randomly assigned to augmented communication input (AC-I), augmented communication output (AC-O), or spoken communication (SC) interventions; 62 children completed the intervention. This trial assessed the children’s symbolic language performance using communication measures from the language transcripts of the 18th and 24th intervention sessions and coding of target vocabulary use. Results All children in the AC-O and AC-I intervention groups used augmented and spoken words for the target vocabulary items, whereas children in the SC intervention produced a very small number of spoken words. Vocabulary size was substantially larger for...