The It Takes Two to Talk® - The Hanen Program® for Parents: impacts on child behaviour and social-emotional functioning

This study aimed to explore outcomes of a parent-implemented language intervention for children with language difficulties with respect to child behaviour and social-emotional functioning. A single group, quasi-experimental pre-post design was used. Participants were 121 parent-child dyads. The children with language difficulties were aged between 18 months and 4 years. Outcome measures were completed pre- and post-participation in the It Takes Two to Talk (R) (ITTT) - The Hanen Program (R) for Parents. Parents reported positive changes (p=<0.01) across four of 10 child behaviours explored in the current study. This study also identified that approximately half of the children who participated (n=56, 46.3%) were at risk for social-emotional difficulties pre-program and that there was a significant reduction (p=0.004) in this number post-program. Given the positive outcomes with respect to overall social-emotional functioning in this community-based sample of more than 100 children, this study has highlighted the importance of measuring outcomes of parent-implemented speech-language pathology beyond child language and parent-child interactions. In addition, findings have highlighted a need for further research related to child behaviour outcomes in order to establish if language intervention focused on improving parent-child interactions is also effective in reducing specific disruptive behaviours.