Background:Research has investigated late‐talking toddlers because they are at great risk of continuing to experience language‐learning difficulties once they enter school and hence are candidates for early intervention. It is also important to consider this group of children with regards to the immediate characteristics which are detrimental to their development and for which early intervention has become increasingly available.Aims:To review the literature on late‐talking toddlers in order to identify the characteristics of this population whose importance has been clearly demonstrated, identify sources of incongruence in findings, and to underscore aspects of language delay at 2 years of age and characteristics about which additional knowledge is needed.Main contribution:The review highlights the need to define the language difficulties found in late‐talking toddlers based on clinical profiles that go beyond the criterion of an expressive vocabulary delay. It also underscores the association between vocabulary delay and characteristics of the child such as social–emotional development and characteristics of the socio‐familial environment such as language stimulation.Conclusions:Future research should take into account the lack of homogeneity observed within the population of children with a vocabulary delay at 2 years of age and attempt to identify subgroups within late‐talking toddlers. It should also consider a multifactorial perspective of child development to further the understanding of this phenomenon.

Delivering pediatric rehabilitation services to immigrant parents of children with disabilities requires the practice of culturally sensitive care. Few studies have examined the specific nature of culturally sensitive care in pediatric rehabilitation, especially the notions of effective communication and client engagement. Interviews were held with 42 therapists (10 social workers, 16 occupational therapists and 16 speech language pathologists) from two locations in Canada (Toronto and Quebec City). Data were analyzed using an inductive content analysis approach. Study themes included the importance and nature of effective communication and client engagement in service delivery involving immigrant parents. Participants discussed using four main types of strategies to engage immigrant parents, including understanding the family situation, building a collaborative relationship, tailoring practice to the client's situation and ensuring parents' understanding of therapy procedures. The findings illuminate the importance of effective, two-way communication in providing the mutual understanding needed by therapists to engage parents in the intervention process. The findings also richly describe the engagement strategies used by therapists. Clinical implications include recommendations for strategies for therapists to employ to engage this group of parents. Furthermore, the findings are applicable to service provision in general, as engaging families in a collaborative relationship through attention to their specific situation is a general principle of good quality, family-centered care. Implications for Rehabilitation Effective communication permeates the delivery of culturally sensitive care and provides mutual understanding, which is fundamental to client engagement. The findings illuminate the nature of "partnership" by indicating the role of collaborative therapist strategies in facilitating engagement. Four main strategies facilitate effective communication and client engagement, including understanding the family situation, building a collaborative relationship, tailoring practice to the client's situation and ensuring parents' understanding of therapy procedures. Engaging families in a collaborative relationship through attention to their specific situation is a general principle of good quality, family-centered care.

Although culturally sensitive care is acknowledged as the gold standard in pediatric rehabilitation, very little is known about the social worker’s role in providing culturally sensitive care to immigrant families raising a child with a physical disability. This study draws on in-depth interviews with 45 clinical staff within two pediatric rehabilitation settings. Study findings, which are embedded within a “cultural brokerage” framework, showed that social workers’ understanding of culturally sensitive care involved being aware of their biases and how their own cultural or professional orientation may influence their interaction with patients. These results also highlighted common challenges that social workers encountered in providing culturally sensitive care. These challenges included language barriers, discrepancies between clinicians’ and patients’ cultural orientation, gender and generational differences, lack of knowledge of resources, and difficulties building rapport and trust. Social workers sought to overcome these challenges by working as “cultural brokers” to link immigrant families to resources and to mediate differences between patients’ and clinicians’ cultural orientations. In conclusion, social workers play a critical role in providing culturally sensitive care to immigrant families raising a child with a disability.

Few studies report on therapy to improve language comprehension in children with specific language impairment (SLI). We address this gap by measuring the effect of a systematic intervention to improve inferential comprehension using dialogic reading tasks in conjunction with pre-determined questions and cues. Sixteen children with a diagnosis of SLI aged 4–6 participated in 10 weekly treatment sessions carried out by their regular therapists. Baseline and maintenance periods were also tabulated. Two experimental measures and a standardized test revealed that children's total scores and the quality of their responses post-treatment were better than those obtained pre-treatment. However, perhaps due to the use of non-equivalent probes, this change could not be interpreted solely as a significant effect of intervention. These results nevertheless suggest that a systematically designed intervention focusing on the comprehension of specific types of questions requiring inferencing and using a carefully scaffolded cueing strategy can be beneficial.

Purpose This study aimed to describe the development of inferential abilities of children age 3 to 6 years in a narrative using a dialogic reading task on an iPad. Method Participants were 121 typically developing children, divided into 3 groups according to age range (3–4 years old, 4–5 years old, 5–6 years old). Total score of inferential comprehension, subscores by causal inference type targeting elements of the story grammar, and quality of response were examined across groups. Results Inferential comprehension emerged early, from 3 to 4 years old, with considerable interindividual variability. Inferential comprehension scores increased significantly in relation to age, leading to developmental steps with regards to the type of causal inferences. The ability to infer the problem of the story, the internal response of a character, and predictions were easier starting at age 4 years. Then, the 5- to 6-year-olds were better able to infer the goal, the attempt to solve the problem, and the resolution. Last, between the ages of 3 and 6 years, children improved in terms of the quality of response they provided. Conclusion This study addresses important gaps in our knowledge of inferential comprehension in young children and has implications for planning of early education in this realm.