How language proficiency affects treatment outcomes in bilingual children with language disorders
Official title: The relationship between child language proficiency and language of treatment on the outcomes of bilingual children with developmental language disorder
Funded at University of Houston · NIH-11073019 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This study looks at how well bilingual kids with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) do in therapy when it's given in Spanish or English, to find out which language helps them improve the most based on how good they are in each language.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Houston NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Houston, United States) |
| Project start | May 1, 2023 |
| Project end | April 30, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $657,483 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DC020183-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11073019 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates for this research are bilingual children aged 0-11 years who have been diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder.
✕Less likely to help
Patients who are monolingual or do not have a diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder may not benefit from this research.
What this research studies
This research investigates how the language proficiency of bilingual children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) influences their treatment outcomes when receiving therapy in either Spanish or English. The study aims to determine the most effective language of intervention for these children, considering their proficiency levels in both languages. By examining the relationship between language treatment and proficiency, the research seeks to provide insights that can help Speech Language Pathologists tailor their approaches to better serve bilingual children. The methodology includes assessing language gains and exploring cross-linguistic transfer effects during treatment.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this research could lead to more effective treatment strategies for bilingual children with language disorders, improving their language development and academic achievement.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research has shown promising results in understanding language treatment outcomes in bilingual populations, suggesting that this approach could yield valuable insights.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Houston
Houston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Castilla-Earls, Anny P. — University of Houston
- Study coordinator: Castilla-Earls, Anny P.
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Retrieval-based Word Learning for Young Children with Developmental Language Disorder
A project helps 4- to 5-year-olds with language disorder learn new words more effectively using memory-based learning tricks.
-
Predicting Developmental Language Delay in Young Children
A study of young children to identify early signs that predict developmental language delay, using timing and processing measures from two new language screening tools.
-
Understanding how infants’ early speech becomes language skills and how it might signal language disorders
This grant studies how a baby’s brain learns sounds in the first year of life and whether early patterns can predict and prevent language disorders.
-
Language in adults with and without Developmental Language Disorder
This grant helps researchers study how language abilities develop and change in adults with and without developmental language disorder to improve understanding and support.
-
Understanding short-term verbal memory in children and adults with Developmental Language Disorder
A study to understand the memory and language links in people with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) across kids and adults.
-
Computer-assisted bilingual vocabulary help for kids with language disorder
A computer-assisted program helps monolingual clinicians teach bilingual Spanish-English vocabulary to emergent bilingual children with developmental language disorder.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.