RecruitingACTRN12622001552774

How can we make grammar learning easier for children with language disorders?

Does speech therapy Involving graduated input type variations (GITV) for children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) improve their use of grammar?

Sponsor

University of Sydney

Enrollment

10 participants

Start Date

Apr 1, 2023

Study Type

Interventional

Conditions

developmental language disorders

Summary

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) struggle with the learning, use and/or understanding of grammar. This project examines the efficacy of a theory driven empirically based grammar intervention approach, graduated input type variation (GITV), for young English-speaking children with DLD. The aim is to compare participating children’s performance on both the trained grammar target, and the control grammar item which they will not receive treatment, before and after intervention. During intervention, children will receive input of 30 exemplars provided using two evidence-based procedures, recast and focused stimulation, in which the speech-language pathology student uses a special way of commenting on what is going on and responding to the child’s communication attempts of the target in meaningful contexts during fun activities. Both procedures are typically included in the standard-of-care of children with DLD during language intervention. The relative frequency of the verbs in the input exemplars is manipulated such that in the skewed input stage, one verb appears in a disproportionally higher number of the exemplars, whereas in the balanced input stage, all the verbs appear in similar frequencies. Children will participate in 16 sessions of intervention, twice a week for eight weeks. It is predicted that children will make significant gains in the production of the trained grammar target but show no change in the control grammar item. Children will also demonstrate learning of another grammar item that is structurally similar to the trained grammar target, and maintenance of learning of the target 3 weeks after intervention ends.

Eligibility

Sex: Both males and femalesMin Age: 5 YearssMax Age: 7 Yearss

Plain Language Summary

Simplified for easier understanding

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a condition in which children struggle to learn, use, and understand language despite having normal intelligence and no apparent hearing loss. Grammar — the rules that govern how words are combined into sentences — is a particular challenge for many children with DLD. This study is testing a specific grammar teaching approach called Graduated Input Type Variation (GITV), which carefully controls the type and frequency of language examples a child is exposed to during therapy sessions. Children will receive 16 sessions of speech-language therapy over eight weeks, during which a trained clinician uses two well-established techniques (recast and focused stimulation) to expose them to targeted grammar structures in fun, engaging activities. The study is comparing children's grammar skills before and after intervention to see whether this structured input approach leads to meaningful gains, and whether learning one grammar rule helps children pick up related rules as well. Your child may be eligible if they are aged 5 years to 7 years 11 months, have a confirmed diagnosis of DLD based on standardised testing, have English as their primary language, and have speech that is at least 80% understandable to an unfamiliar adult. Children with additional diagnoses such as autism, global developmental delay, or another home language are not eligible.

This summary was AI-generated to explain the trial in plain language. It is not medical advice. Always discuss eligibility with your doctor before enrolling in a clinical trial.

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Interventions

In this clinical trial, we will examine a new theory driven and empirically based approach on grammar intervention, called graduated input type variation (GITV). The intervention involves evidence-based procedures, recast and focused stimulation, in which the speech language pathologist uses a special way of commenting on what is going on and responding to the child’s communication attempts while playing a toy set, or a game, or reading a book with the child. No tools are required in the use of these procedures. Recast and focused stimulation are different in that the former requires the speech-language pathologist to respond to what the child says by using the grammar target being trained. In focused stimulation, the speech-language pathologist can initiate a comment using the grammar target without having the child say something first. Both procedures are typically included in the standard-of-care of children with language disorders during language intervention. In the intervention phase, the speech-language pathologist will see the child one-on-one THREE TIMES A WEEK FOR 5 WEEKS, for about an hour each time. About half an hour will be spent on the intervention and the remaining time will be spent on the criterion-referenced probes for monitoring progress. We use AN ONLINE format in which ALL sessions ARE CONDUCTED ONLINE. We will use a fidelity checklist to monitor the speech-language pathologist's administration of the intervention protocol and to guide the provision of feedback either during the session or after the session through a review of the video recording by an independent observer. We will keep an attendance record and provide a make up session when the child is unavailable on the scheduled time. In the maintenance session, there will be no intervention. We will re-run the criterion-referenced probes to continue to monitor the child's progress over a period of 6 weeks. There will be three sessions, at 1 week, 3 weeks and 6 weeks post intervention. Each will last about 30 minutes.

Locations(1)

NSW, Australia

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ACTRN12622001552774