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Randomised Controlled Trial of a Therapeutic Playgroup for Children with Developmental Delays

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Abstract

A single-blind randomised control trial investigated the effectiveness of the Learn, Engage and Play (LEaP) playgroup. Seventy-one children with developmental delay were randomly allocated to an 8-week LEaP playgroup or control group and followed up at 12 and 28 weeks. On the primary outcome measure, LEaP demonstrated significant within group changes at 28 weeks (parenting distress p = 0.018) but no between group changes. On secondary outcome measures, at 12 weeks LEaP produced significantly better outcomes than control in goal achievement (performance p = 0.022; function p = 0.008) and family-support (p = 0.024), with LEaP continuing to demonstrate significantly better goal achievement (child performance p = 0.042; function p = 0.012) at 28 weeks. Findings indicate LEaP may assist in improving family-support and goal achievement outcomes for children with developmental delays.

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Funding

This work was supported by funding from the Australian Government [Post Graduate Scholarship], Curtin University [Post Graduate Top Up Scholarship], the Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation Scholarship [Post Graduate Top Up Scholarship], Western Australian Health Translation Network (WAHTN) [Early Career Research Fellowship] and CoLab, a partnership between the Telethon Kids Institute and Minderoo Foundation [Post Graduate Top Up Scholarship]. We would also like to acknowledge the Child and Parent Centre-Westminster and Child and Parent Centre-East Maddington (A State Government initiative) where the playgroups were run. Thanks also to Dr Jane Doyle and Bridget Pieterse for LEaP facilitator training and supervision, Richard Parson for preliminary data analysis discussions and Trevor Mazzucchelli for supervision the Parenting Stress Index Short form (PSI-4 SF) (Abidin 2012) implementation. In kind support was also provided by the Child Development Service, Child and Adolescent Health Service, Perth, Australia.

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JA designed and executed study, collected data, assisted in analysing data, and wrote the manuscript. NB assisted in data analysis and collaborated in writing and editing the manuscript. SG, ED, JW and CE collaborated in study design, participant recruitment, and editing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jodie Armstrong.

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Armstrong, J., Girdler, S., Davidson, E. et al. Randomised Controlled Trial of a Therapeutic Playgroup for Children with Developmental Delays. J Autism Dev Disord 51, 1039–1053 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04580-7

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