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Background: Young children with a developmental delay (DD) show significant delays in communication and language development. Although several parent-implemented language intervention programs have been developed to facilitate the communication and language abilities of children with a DD, no systematic review has examined the effects of these programs. Method: The literature search for this systematic review focused on parent-implemented early language interventions for children with a DD age 1-5 years. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science (search period 1974-2015). Level of evidence (levels I and II) as developed by the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM) and study effectiveness were evaluated. Seven intervention studies met the inclusion criteria. Interventions comprised the Hanen Parent Program, Responsive Education/Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching, and Enhanced Milieu Teaching. A substantial proportion of children with a DD also had a diagnosis of Down syndrome (DS). Results: Five of the seven studies reported a significant effect of intervention on parent responsiveness, child communication, and aspects of language interactions (favoring intervention groups over control groups), but no studies reported significant effects of intervention on expressive language vocabulary. Conclusions: Intervention programs aimed at facilitating the communication and language development of children with a DD appear to improve a child's general communication abilities but have limited impact on expressive language development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The embodied-cognition approach views cognition and language as grounded in daily sensorimotor child-environment interactions. Therefore, the attainment of motor milestones is expected to play a role in cognitive-linguistic development. Early attainment of unsupported sitting and independent walking indeed predict better spatial cognition and language at later ages. However, evidence linking these milestones with the development of spatial language and evidence regarding factors that might mediate this relation are scarce. The current study examined whether exploration of spatial-relational object properties (e.g., the possibility of containing or stacking) and exploration of the space through self-locomotion mediate the effect of, respectively, age of sitting and age of walking on spatial cognition and spatial language. Thus, we hypothesized that an earlier age of sitting and walking predicts, respectively, higher levels of spatial-relational object exploration and exploration through self-locomotion, which in turn, predict better spatial cognition and spatial language at later ages. Fifty-nine Dutch children took part in a longitudinal study. A combination of tests, observations, and parental reports was used to measure motor development, exploratory behavior (age 20 months), spatial memory (age 24 months), spatial processing (age 32 months), and spatial language (age 36 months). Results show that attainment of sitting predicted spatial memory and spatial language, but spatial-relational object exploration did not mediate these effects. Attainment of independent walking predicted spatial processing and spatial language, and exploration through self-locomotion (partially) mediated these relations. These findings extend previous work and provide partial support for the hypotheses about the mediating role of exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to an embodied view of development sensorimotor activity plays a central role in cognitive development. Following this idea, we studied whether the age of achieving self-locomotion milestones and spatial exploration during the first years of life predict spatial memory at (pre)school age. Spatial memory was assessed in 51 children at ages four and six years. Parents reported retrospectively about ages of attainment of self-locomotion milestones and about the children's spatial exploration behaviour during infancy and early toddlerhood. Results show that spatial exploration positively predicts spatial memory at both ages. The age of attainment of self- locomotion does not predict spatial memory at ages four and six. These findings extend previous work that showed a relation between exploration and spatial cognition over a short period of time. Results provide preliminary support to the hypothesis, suggesting that spatial exploration predicts spatial memory also over longer periods of time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The development of (early) numerical cognition builds on children's ability to understand and manipulate quantities and numbers. However, previous research did not find conclusive evidence on the role of symbolic and non-symbolic skills in the development of (early) numerical cognition. The aim of the current study was to clarify the relation between different types of non-symbolic quantity skills, symbolic numerical skills and early numerical cognition. A sample of 43 children was tested at the age of 3.5 years and at the age of 5 years. At 3.5 years, non-symbolic number line estimation, non-symbolic quantity comparison and symbolic enumerating skills were measured. At 5 years, early numerical cognition, defined as symbolic number line estimation and counting, were measured It was found that non-symbolic number line estimation at 3.5 years could predict both symbolic number line estimation and counting at 5 years. Enumerating at 3.5 years could only predict counting at 5 years. This suggests that both non-symbolic and symbolic skills play a role in the development of early numerical cognition, although enumerating skills do not transfer to all types of early numerical cognition. Furthermore, not all non-symbolic skills seem to play an important role in the development of early numerical cognition. The results suggest that non-symbolic quantity comparison does not contribute much to the development of early numerical cognition. Associations between non-symbolic quantities and space, operationalized here as non-symbolic number line estimation, seem central to the development of early math from preschool to kindergarten age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]