Evaluating a new approach to help children with language disorders

Evaluation of an Explicit Approach to Teach Grammatical Forms to Children With Language Impairment

This study is testing a new teaching method for kids aged 5 to 9 with language disorders to see if it helps them improve their grammar skills better than a traditional method.

Quick facts

• Phase: Not applicable
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 200 (estimated)
• Ages: 5 Years to 9 Years
• Sex: All
• Sponsor: University of Minnesota (Academic / other)
• Locations: 1 site (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
• Trial ID: NCT04902508 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this trial studies

This clinical trial is designed to compare the effectiveness of an innovative intervention that combines explicit and implicit teaching methods against a traditional implicit-only approach for children aged 5 to 9 with developmental language disorder (DLD). The study employs a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) design, allowing for re-randomization based on participants' mastery of grammatical forms. Participants will engage in 32 treatment sessions targeting specific grammatical skills, with their progress closely monitored and adjusted as needed. The trial aims to determine which intervention yields better outcomes in improving grammatical language skills in children with DLD.

Who should consider this trial

Good fit: Ideal candidates for this study are children aged 5 to 9 years with developmental language disorder who exhibit significant grammatical weaknesses.

Not a fit: Patients with other significant conditions affecting their language impairment, such as autism spectrum disorder or Down syndrome, may not benefit from this study.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, this study could lead to more effective treatment strategies for children with developmental language disorder, improving their grammatical language skills.

How similar studies have performed: Other studies have shown promise in using combined explicit and implicit approaches for language interventions, suggesting potential success for this innovative method.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Study participants will include children with language impairment, aged 5 through 9 years. Participants will not have any indication of other significant conditions to which their impairment may be attributed, such as autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, seizure disorder, or hearing impairment. Participants with a diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder will be included due to high rate of co-morbidity (see Redmond, 2016). Additionally, participants will meet the following criteria:

* No evidence of significant cognitive delay;
* Evidence of language impairment;
* Evidence of deficits on expressive grammatical forms: score below 30% accuracy on at least two of the following forms: third person singular -s, regular past tense -ed, auxiliary is/are in statements, auxiliary do/does in questions;
* Typical hearing and vision, with correction if necessary;
* Native English speaker with English spoken in the home by at least one primary caregiver since birth;
* Speaker of Mainstream American English;
* Be able to articulate final-position phonemes /s/, /z/, /t/, and /d/; and
* Majority of utterances (\> 50%) include subject and verb in obligated contexts based on a 20-min conversational language sample to ensure appropriateness of study intervention.

Exclusion Criteria:

Participants will be excluded if there is no indication of language impairment, and they are not aged 5 through 9 years. Participants will also be excluded if there is indication of other significant conditions to which their impairment may be attributed, such as autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, seizure disorder, or hearing impairment. Additionally, participants will be excluded in they meet the following criteria:

* Evidence of significant cognitive delay;
* No evidence of deficits on expressive grammatical forms: score below 30% accuracy on at least two of the following forms: third person singular -s, regular past tense -ed, auxiliary is/are in statements, auxiliary do/does in questions;
* Atypical hearing and vision, with correction if necessary;
* Non-native English speaker;
* Speaker of Non-mainstream American English;
* Unable to articulate final-position phonemes /s/, /z/, /t/, and /d/; and
* Non-majority of utterances (\< 50%) include subject and verb in obligated contexts based on a 20-min conversational language sample to ensure appropriateness of study intervention.

Where this trial is running

Minneapolis, Minnesota

• University of Minnesota — Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States (Recruiting)

Study contacts

• Study coordinator: Lizbeth H Finestack, PhD

Conditions Developmental Language Disorder; Explicit Intervention; Grammatical Language; Child Language; Randomized Control Trial; Intervention; Grammar; Morphology