Text Support for Preschoolers

Overseen By Grace Clark, Ph.D.

Age: < 18

Sex: Any

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: Montclair State University

Disqualifiers: Non-english exposure, Developmental disorders, others

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

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: Unknown

Duration: 2 weeks

120 Participants Needed

Trial Summary

What is the purpose of this trial?

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if text can support children in learning new verbs in healthy children ages three through six. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does text support help children learn new verbs? Does a child's relative benefit from text support vary according to their literacy skills? Participants will * Watch videos of actions and hear novel words * Name alphabet sounds to determine their literacy skills

Do I need to stop my current medications to join the trial?

The trial information does not specify whether you need to stop taking your current medications.

What data supports the effectiveness of the treatment Orthographic facilitation for preschoolers?

Research shows that orthographic spelling training can significantly improve reading and spelling abilities in children with dyslexia, suggesting that similar methods might help preschoolers develop early literacy skills. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

How does the treatment Orthographic facilitation differ from other treatments for reading difficulties in preschoolers?

Orthographic facilitation is unique because it focuses on helping children recognize and remember the visual patterns of words, which can improve reading skills by enhancing their ability to decode and spell words accurately. This approach is different from other treatments that may focus more on phonics (the relationship between letters and sounds) or auditory learning, as it emphasizes visual learning and memory. ^{3 6 7 8 9}

Research Team

Grace Clark, PhD

Principal Investigator

Montclair State University

Eligibility Criteria

This trial is for healthy preschoolers aged three to six. It's designed to see if text can help them learn new verbs. Children must be able to watch videos and name alphabet sounds, as this will be used to assess their literacy skills.

Inclusion Criteria

Primarily exposed to English

Typical development

My hearing and vision are normal or corrected to normal.

Timeline

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

1-2 weeks

Treatment

Participants watch videos of actions, hear novel words, and name alphabet sounds to determine literacy skills

2 weeks

Multiple sessions (in-person)

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for accuracy in an identification task with a pointing response

1 week

Treatment Details

Interventions

• Orthographic facilitation

Trial Overview The study is testing 'orthographic facilitation'—whether seeing written text alongside hearing words can improve children's ability to learn new verbs. The process involves watching actions in videos while hearing novel words.

Participant Groups

Group I: Verb learning with auditory, visual, and text support Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

Participants receive the added support of text to determine if this additional support helps them learn novel words with higher accuracy.

Group II: Verb learning with only visual and auditory support Active Control 1 Intervention

This is "gold standard" learning scenario for young children.

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

Montclair State University

Lead Sponsor

Trials

14

Recruited

1,200+

Findings from Research

In a study involving 87 children aged 6 to 16 with reading and spelling difficulties, a new training program called Phono-Graphix(TM) led to significant improvements in reading skills after just 12 hours of one-on-one instruction.

On average, children improved by 13.7 standard score points in word recognition and 19.34 points in nonsense word decoding, indicating the program's effectiveness in enhancing phoneme awareness and decoding abilities.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Phono-Graphix(TM): A new method for remediating reading difficulties. McGuinness, C., McGuinness, D., McGuinness, G.[2021]

An orthographic spelling training program significantly improved spelling abilities in German-speaking children with dyslexia, as shown by a study involving 23 students across two studies with 15 weekly sessions.

The training not only enhanced spelling skills but also led to improvements in reading and knowledge of orthographic spelling rules, indicating its effectiveness in supporting children with spelling difficulties.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Spelling deficits in dyslexia: evaluation of an orthographic spelling training. Ise, E., Schulte-Körne, G.[2010]

A study involving three caregivers showed that using the computer-assisted tutoring program 'Tutoring Buddy' significantly improved preschool-aged children's knowledge of letter sounds over six weeks, indicating its effectiveness in enhancing early literacy skills.

The caregivers found the program easy to use and were able to implement it with high fidelity, suggesting that it is a practical tool for supporting children's literacy development at home.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Parent-administered computer-assisted tutoring targeting letter-sound knowledge: Evaluation via multiple-baseline across three preschool students. DuBois, MR., Volpe, RJ., Burns, MK., et al.[2019]

The study involved 25 children at risk of developing dyslexia who received targeted training, resulting in a significant short-term improvement in phonological awareness compared to 60 untrained at-risk children.

Although the training improved phonological awareness, it did not lead to significant differences in spelling and reading abilities in first-graders, but it did help reduce reading problems in the training group.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

[Prevention of dyslexia – short-term and intermediate effects of promoting phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondence with at-risk preschool children]. Höse, A., Wyschkon, A., Moraske, S., et al.[2019]

A new decoding measure (DM) was developed to assess the decodability of words and passages for young readers, focusing on sub-lexical components like orthographic complexity.

In three experiments with children, the DM effectively predicted reading errors and fluency, showing that it can enhance individualized instruction by matching readers to appropriate texts based on their unique grapheme-phoneme correspondence profiles.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Initial validation of a measure of decoding difficulty as a unique predictor of miscues and passage reading fluency. Saha, NM., Cutting, L., Del Tufo, S., et al.[2022]

In a study of 973 first-grade Dutch children, incremental phonics instruction led to high levels of word decoding accuracy from the start, while efficiency in decoding improved over time, indicating effective learning progression.

Early literacy skills, particularly rapid naming and phonological awareness, were strong predictors of children's ability to master word decoding, highlighting the importance of foundational skills in early education.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Word decoding development in incremental phonics instruction in a transparent orthography. Schaars, MMH., Segers, E., Verhoeven, L.[2020]

The study found that 65 disabled Dutch readers demonstrated orthographic learning, meaning they improved their ability to recognize and spell words, even when reading independently, which suggests that all readers can develop word-specific knowledge.

However, the use of text-to-speech software negatively impacted orthographic learning, likely because it led to passive listening rather than active engagement with the text.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Orthographic learning and the role of text-to-speech software in Dutch disabled readers. Staels, E., Van den Broeck, W.[2014]

Children with reading difficulties, particularly those with a surface profile, showed impaired orthographic learning compared to age-matched controls, indicating that their ability to learn new words is compromised.

In a larger group of 91 poor readers, both phonological decoding skills and orthographic knowledge were found to be significant predictors of orthographic learning, suggesting that improving these skills could enhance word learning in struggling readers.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Tracking orthographic learning in children with different profiles of reading difficulty. Wang, HC., Marinus, E., Nickels, L., et al.[2021]

Children's spelling accuracy is influenced by the frequency of words, with higher accuracy for common segments as they progress in grade level, indicating that exposure to word frequency helps improve spelling skills.

Older children (2nd and 4th graders) show a greater ability to use whole-word knowledge when spelling, especially when primed with high-frequency words, while younger children (1st graders) still rely more on common spelling patterns.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Learning to spell in a language with transparent orthography: Distributional properties of orthography and whole-word lexical processing. Angelelli, P., Marinelli, CV., Putzolu, A., et al.[2018]

References

1. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Phono-Graphix(TM): A new method for remediating reading difficulties. [2021]

2. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Spelling deficits in dyslexia: evaluation of an orthographic spelling training. [2010]

3. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Parent-administered computer-assisted tutoring targeting letter-sound knowledge: Evaluation via multiple-baseline across three preschool students. [2019]

4. Switzerland pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

[Prevention of dyslexia – short-term and intermediate effects of promoting phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondence with at-risk preschool children]. [2019]

5. Netherlands pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Initial validation of a measure of decoding difficulty as a unique predictor of miscues and passage reading fluency. [2022]

6. Netherlands pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Word decoding development in incremental phonics instruction in a transparent orthography. [2020]

7. United States pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Orthographic learning and the role of text-to-speech software in Dutch disabled readers. [2014]

8. Switzerland pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Tracking orthographic learning in children with different profiles of reading difficulty. [2021]

9. England pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Learning to spell in a language with transparent orthography: Distributional properties of orthography and whole-word lexical processing. [2018]