Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24625465›Full record

ArticlePloS one2014

A scoping review of interventions to supplement spoken communication for children with limited speech or language skills.

Maria Antonella Costantino, Maurizio Bonati

Open access · goldAbstract readScoping Review
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
3.9field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Maria Antonella CostantinoChild and Adolescent Neuropsychiatric Unit, IRCCS Foundation Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
Maurizio BonatiLaboratory for Mother and Child Health, Department of Public Health, IRCCS - "Mario Negri" Pharmacological Research Institute, Milan, Italy.
Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico · ITMario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAugmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is used for treating children with severe disorders of speech-language production and/or comprehension. Various strategies are used, but research and debate on their efficacy have remained limited to a specific area and have rarely reached the general medical community.

objectiveTo systematically evaluate outcomes of AAC interventions in children with limited speech or language skills.

methodsSearches were conducted (up to December 2012) in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, DARE, and Cochrane Library databases. Furthermore, relevant journals were searched by hand. References from identified studies were examined. Only RCTs were considered. Trial quality was assessed according to a standardized and validated set of criteria.

resultsFourteen of 1661 retrieved papers met inclusion criteria. A total of 666 children were included in the review and 7 papers involved only children <5 years old. Papers were of average quality and all but one had been published during the previous 10 years by one of 8 research groups, 5 of which from the United States. Seven studies directly addressed AAC use by children with different disabilities. Seven studies enrolled typically developing children: 5 evaluated the use of AAC technologies by children without disabilities in order to obtain results that could be used to improve interventions in peers with disabilities, and 2 evaluated peers' attitudes towards children who used AAC. Both interventions and outcome measures varied widely between studies. Overall findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the AAC interventions considered, but the focus on RCTs alone appears too restrictive.

conclusionsSolid evidence of the positive effects of AAC interventions in children with severe communication disorders must be generated, and different methods are needed besides RCTs. Moreover, it is important that knowledge, research, and debate extend to the medical community in order to ensure clinically effective AAC provision for these children (and their parents).

Indexed as

Communication Devices for People with DisabilitiesAdolescentChildChild, PreschoolCommunicationCommunication DisordersFemaleHumansLanguageMaleOutcome Assessment, Health CarePersons with DisabilitiesRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicResearch DesignSpeechSpeech Disorders

Identifiers

PMID24625465
PMCPMC3953121
OpenAlexW2006265585

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.