A subsequent study of the efficacy of the updated, focused stimulation version of It Takes Two to Talk® was conducted specifically with a population of children with Down Syndrome and their parents. All children in this study communicated using single spoken words or signs, with no word combinations.

Participants

• It Takes Two to Talk (experimental) group

  Six children with Down Syndrome (29 to 46 months) and their parents

• Control group

  Six children with Down Syndrome and their parents

Results & Key Findings

Parents in the It Takes Two to Talk group demonstrated significantly increased responsive interactive behaviours. 

• Compared to the control group, parents who participated in the It Takes Two to Talk Program used significantly fewer utterances per minute, indicating more balanced back-and-forth turns with their child in interactions

• Parents in the It Takes Two to Talk group used “target” vocabulary words via focused stimulation strategies more often than parents in the control group

Children who participated in It Takes Two to Talk significantly increased their use of the “target” vocabulary words, compared with the control group

• Children in the It Takes Two to Talk group demonstrated significantly more use of the developmentally appropriate “target” vocabulary words their parents had specifically modelled via focused stimulation strategies