title: Systematic review of interventions to promote social-emotional development in young children with or at risk for disability.
abstract: This systematic review synthesized the research on interventions used by occupational therapy practitioners to promote social-emotional development in young children (birth-5 yr) with or at risk for disabilities. After a comprehensive search of the research literature, 23 studies were reviewed and then synthesized into five themes: (1) touch-based interventions to enhance calming and parent-infant bonding, (2) relationship-based interventions to promote positive caregiver-child interactions, (3) joint attention interventions, (4) naturalistic preschool interventions to promote peer-to-peer engagement, and (5) instruction-based interventions to teach children appropriate social behaviors. The interventions for infants primarily involved coaching parents in specific strategies to promote positive interactions; interventions for preschool-age children typically involved encouraging peer support, instructing children, and applying naturalistic behavioral techniques to develop higher-level social competence. The studies demonstrated low to moderate positive effects for interventions used by occupational therapy practitioners to improve social-emotional development across ages, diagnoses, and settings.
authors.affiliation: Division of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The Ohio State University, 406 Atwell Hall, 453 West 10th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. Jane.Case-Smith@osumc.edu
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Case-Smith
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019988:Children with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008405:Massage; D009769:Object Attachment; D009788:Occupational Therapy; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D014110:Touch