The third session will focus on current approaches to optimising language outcomes, the importance of early health interventions such as speech and language therapy and the home learning environment. We will look at how the evidence base for interventions is build by focusing on what constitutes good evidence and we will evaluate the findings of recent systematic reviews of speech/language/communication interventions for individuals with Down syndrome (e.g., Seager et al., 2022). As most interventions for young children with Down syndrome involve parents/carers, we will consider the role of parents/caregivers in supporting early language and communication development and what best practice may look like. We will review recent findings from parent-delivered shared book reading interventions and interventions focusing on optimising the development of early social communication skills and we will also discuss the importance of outcome measures: how do we decide what a good outcome measure of language is and what may be considered a clinically significant difference in intervention studies.
