Family-Implemented Shared Book Reading with Children With Disabilities: A Systematic Literature Review

We conducted this systematic review of the literature to examine the participant characteristics, components, outcomes, effectiveness, and quality of recent research on family-implemented shared book reading (SBR) with young children with disabilities (CWD). Twenty-two studies met our inclusion criteria. Interventions focused on training parents to use reading strategies such as asking open-ended questions and providing expectant pauses to encourage children’s language skills. Overall, the included studies were effective in increasing family members’ implementation of specific SBR strategies and children’s language skills; other outcomes such as turn taking and engagement were targeted in only a few studies. In all but one study, family-implemented SBR studies were conducted in the dominant language regardless of children’s home language. We discuss the implications of the study findings for future research and for supporting families to utilize SBR with their young CWD.