The Effect of Prior Learning on Treatment of Morpheme Errors

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Developmental Language Disorder
• Interventions: Behavioral: Conversational recasting

• Registration Number: NCT05953077
• Lead Sponsor: University of Arizona

Brief Summary

This is a small-scale treatment study designed to determine which teaching methods result in the best learning. Treatment focuses on helping children with a developmental language disorder learn parts of grammar. Preschool children will receive assessments to determine whether they have a developmental language disorder and what parts of grammar they have not mastered. Children will receive one-on-one behavioral treatment over a six week period. Half of the children will be first taught a grammatical form they sometimes use and then one they rarely use. The other half will start with a grammatical form they rarely use. The study seeks to determine whether starting with something children sometimes use correctly (an easier part of speech) will speed later learning of something that is harder for them. The children's ability to use the grammatical forms taught to them will be assessed throughout the treatment period and approximately six weeks after treatment ends.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2022-02-01
• Study First Submitted: 2023-06-09
• Study First Submitted QC: 2023-07-11
• Study First Posted: 2023-07-19
• Status Verified: 2024-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-08-22
• Last Update Posted: 2024-08-26
• Primary Completion: 2024-10-30
• Study Completion: 2025-04-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 32

Inclusion Criteria

• Native English speaking
• Passed a pure-tone hearing screening
• 4-6 years of age
• SPELT-P2 (language) test score of < 87
• K-ABC-II Nonverbal Scale (cognition) test score of >75
• Sufficient morpheme errors to serve as treatment and control targets
• Articulations skills sufficient to judge use of language targets
• Able to attend treatment daily

Exclusion Criteria

• Parent report of other handicapping conditions
• Clinical signs of other disorders
• Enrolled in outside treatment

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Easy first	Conversational recasting	Children are treated for an emergent grammatical form that is used correctly at least 60% during three pre-treatment probe sessions. This form is treated until children generalize it's use an average of 90% or more across 3 probe sessions. Their treatment target is then switched to a grammatical form that is used less than 30% correct across 3 pre-treatment probe sessions.
Hard first	Conversational recasting	Children are treated for a grammatical form that is used accurately less than 30% of the time during 3 pre-treatment probe sessions. This form is treated until children generalize it's use an average of 90% or more across 3 probe sessions. Their treatment target is then switched to a grammatical form that is used less than 30% correct across 3 pre-treatment probe sessions.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in the use of grammatical forms in untreated contexts	3 days per week over 6 weeks	Clinicians elicit ten uses of the untrained grammatical form using toys, activities, and vocabulary with-held from treatment sessions. Change is assessed throughout the treatment period.
Retention of trained grammatical forms	One session, approximately 6 weeks after treatment concludes.	Clinicians elicit ten uses of the trained grammatical form using toys, activities, and vocabulary with-held from treatment sessions.
Change in the use of treated grammatical forms in untreated contexts	3 days per week over 6 weeks	Clinicians elicit ten uses of the trained grammatical form using toys, activities, and vocabulary with-held from treatment sessions. Change is assessed throughout the treatment period.
Retention of untrained grammatical forms	One session, approximately 6 weeks after treatment concludes.	Clinicians elicit ten uses of the untrained grammatical form using toys, activities, and vocabulary with-held from treatment sessions.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in spontaneous use	5 sessions a week over 6 weeks.	The number of unprompted use of the trained grammatical form that occurs during treatment sessions. Change is measured relative to baseline.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Arizona; 🇺🇸 Tucson, Arizona, United States