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.

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.

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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.