Parent Coaching
You spend far more time with your child than any therapist can. Parent coaching puts the strategies in your hands, so progress keeps happening at the dinner table, in the car and at bath time, not only during the session.
How parent coaching works
Parents are part of the team from the first visit. Because we see your child in your home, we can show you the strategies in the place where you will use them.
- Your therapist shows you what they are doing and why, then invites you to try it.
- Every session ends with simple, practical things to try before the next visit.
- Strategies fit your family's real routines: meals, play, bath time and bedtime.
- You can ask questions at any time. There are no wrong questions.
What the research says
Parents who learn language strategies help their child's language grow.
This meta-analysis combined 18 studies in which parents were taught to use language strategies with their young children. Children's understanding and use of language improved, whether or not they also had an intellectual disability.
What they found:
- Parent-implemented interventions had a significant, positive effect on both receptive language (understanding) and expressive language (talking).
- The benefit held for children with and without intellectual disabilities.
- Effect sizes varied by outcome and comparison group, from small to large.
Good to know: Results varied across measures and comparison groups, and the studies differed in how they were run. The summary here is based on the published abstract; the full paper discusses which features of parent training mattered most.
The study behind it
Roberts MY, Kaiser AP. The effectiveness of parent-implemented language interventions: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 2011;20(3):180-199.
Want the detail? Read our plain-language summary of this study. The summary and this page are general information written from the study’s published abstract, not medical advice. The full article belongs to its publisher, and the institution named on the summary does not endorse Speak Live Play. Talk with a licensed clinician about your own child.