Family Routines within Caregiver-Implemented Early Interventions: A Scoping Review

Family routines provide young children with predictable, repeatable, and functional contexts for learning about the world. Participating in family routines is a critical pathway by which all children learn. While the use of family routines in caregiver-implemented interventions (CIIs) is supported by theories, research, and recommended practices, few investigations examine the degree to which interventions take place within routines across developmental domains in early childhood intervention research. We conducted a scoping review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist to examine an interdisciplinary body of CIIs. We coded 42 articles for the presence and types of routines, child and family demographics, developmental targets, and how routines were identified within CIIs. Autism spectrum disorder was the highest represented disability; many studies included play routines or a combination of play with another routine. In this article, we discuss the importance of family routines in CIIs, how to jointly identify a range of routines with caregivers, and we describe the need for research on family routines in CIIs across disabilities and diverse family backgrounds.