Behavioral Interventions for Developmental Language Disorder

(DLD Treatment Trial)

Recruiting at 3 trial locations

Overseen By Jeanette Eckert

Age: < 18

Sex: Any

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: Ohio University

Disqualifiers: Neurodevelopmental, emotional/behavioral, neurological, others

No Placebo Group All trial participants will receive the active study treatment (no placebo)

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: 24

Duration: 10 weeks

150 Participants Needed

Trial Summary

What is the purpose of this trial?

The goal of this project is to compare the relative effectiveness of two novel treatments to improve the complex grammar knowledge of school-age (8-11-year-old) children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Treatment 1 is an implicit approach to promoting children's automatic grammar learning and Treatment 2 is a more conventional explicit approach in which participants are taught the rules underlying the grammar. Treatment 1 involves children listening to an examiner produce a target sentence 20 times during each training session while describing a picture. The children will then see a picture and be asked to describe the action taking place. Treatment 2 involves children listening to an examiner describe the action occurring in a picture using a sentence pattern targeted to the child's deficit. The child will then be asked who did the action in the sentence and who received the action, after which the examiner will provide specific feedback about why the child's response was correct or incorrect. The expectation is that over a short period children will begin to use their targeted sentence pattern after hearing the examiner produce it many times. Children will complete four outcome measures (syntactic knowledge, sentence comprehension, sentence chunking, narrative comprehension/ production) prior to treatment, immediately after treatment, and five weeks after treatment. Children will be randomly assigned to one of the two treatments. Both treatments will be delivered 20 times over 10 weeks. The investigators anticipate that the children receiving Treatment 1 will show stronger gains in knowledge across the four outcome measures.

Eligibility Criteria

This trial is for school-age children (8-11 years old) with developmental language disorder. It aims to help those struggling with complex grammar knowledge. Children must be able to attend 20 treatment sessions over 10 weeks and participate in assessments before, immediately after, and five weeks post-treatment.

Inclusion Criteria

Language impairment: standard score of 34 or lower on the Test of Language and Learning Skills

Nonverbal IQ: nonverbal quotient of 77 or higher

Native English speaker

Exclusion Criteria

Neurodevelopmental disorder

Emotional/behavioral disorder

I have received treatment for a complex condition from a specialist.

Timeline

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

2-4 weeks

1 visit (in-person)

Pre-treatment Assessment

Children complete four outcome measures prior to treatment to assess baseline syntactic knowledge, sentence comprehension, sentence chunking, and narrative comprehension/production.

1-2 weeks

1 visit (in-person)

Treatment

Participants receive either implicit or explicit grammar treatment over 10 weeks, with 20 training sessions.

10 weeks

20 visits (in-person)

Immediate Post-treatment Assessment

Outcome measures are re-administered immediately after treatment to assess changes in syntactic knowledge, sentence comprehension, sentence chunking, and narrative comprehension/production.

1 week

1 visit (in-person)

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for sustained treatment effects and generalization of grammar knowledge 5 weeks after treatment.

5 weeks

1 visit (in-person)

Treatment Details

Trial Overview The study compares two treatments: an implicit approach where children listen and describe pictures, and an explicit approach teaching grammar rules with feedback. Each child will receive one of these treatments randomly to see which method better improves their grammar skills.

Participant Groups

Group I: Implicit Immediate Treatment Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

This treatment involves providing participants an implicit approach to grammar learning via a syntactic priming paradigm immediately following the completion of the pre-treatment measures.

Group II: Implicit Delayed Treatment Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

This treatment involves providing participants an implicit approach to grammar learning via a syntactic priming paradigm 10 weeks following the completion of the pre-treatment measures. This arm allows assessing whether improvement on the outcome measures is due to 10 weeks of treatment or just maturation.

Group III: Explicit Immediate Treatment Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

This treatment involves providing participants an explicit approach to grammar learning via conventional teaching of grammatical rules immediately following the completion of the pre-treatment measures.

Group IV: Explicit Delayed Treatment Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

This treatment involves providing participants an explicit approach to grammar learning via conventional teaching of grammar rules 10 weeks following the completion of the pre-treatment measures. This arm allows assessing whether improvement on the outcome measures is due to 10 weeks of treatment or just maturation.

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

Ohio University

Lead Sponsor

Trials

73

Recruited

17,800+

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Collaborator

Trials

377

Recruited

190,000+