Building Complex Language

Phase 1

Completed

• Conditions: Language Development Disorders; Learning Disorders
• Interventions: Behavioral: Complex sentence treatment protocol

• Registration Number: NCT01337232
• Lead Sponsor: Governors State University

Brief Summary

This study is designed to examine how much therapy is needed in order to make significant gains in knowledge and use of complex sentences. Students will be randomly placed in individual treatment sessions that take place either once or twice per week for nine weeks. All will receive the same type of treatment, which consists of a focused series of oral and written language activities. While it is anticipated that students in both groups will benefit from treatment, we hypothesize that the twice-weekly session frequency will have a significantly greater impact on level of performance and maintenance of skills after treatment.

Detailed Description

The objective of this project is to examine outcomes of a treatment intervention designed to increase functional use of complex (multi-clausal) sentences in school-age students with primary language impairments that impact literacy and academic achievement. The treatment protocol includes: (1) three types of complex sentences (adverbial, relative, object complement), (2) encounters with complex sentences in real texts and across all modalities (speaking, listening, reading, writing, and (3) activities that engage metalinguistic understanding of complex sentences. Specific objectives are to (1) document treatment effect in terms of size and scope of impact in decontextualized as well as naturalistic language contexts, (2) document the effect of treatment intensity (dosage), (3) explore effects of sentence complexity subtype and treatment outcomes, and (4) explore relationships between treatment outcomes and participant variables (pre-treatment knowledge of complex sentences, verbal working memory, and non-verbal cognition).

The study will utilize two designs. Approximately 10 participants per year will complete the treatment, randomly assigned to one of two treatment levels. As each participant finishes, efficacy and effect size will be measured using a multiple-baseline single-subject design. Once all 30 participants have completed the treatment, effect size and the impact of dosage (treatment intensity) will be evaluated using a pretest-posttest group design, and correlations between participant characteristics and individual patterns of performance will be carefully described and analyzed.

This study targets school-age students with a Speech-Language Impairment and/or a Specific Learning Disability between the ages of 10 and 14 who are receiving services from a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) for one or more higher-level language behaviors. It is expected that participants will demonstrate higher levels of fluency with complex sentences compared with pretreatment baseline levels and that treatment effects will be reflected in several modalities and in naturalistic language contexts.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2011-04
• Study First Submitted: 2011-04-13
• Study First Submitted QC: 2011-04-15
• Study First Posted: 2011-04-18
• Primary Completion: 2013-09
• Study Completion: 2013-09
• Status Verified: 2013-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2013-11-21
• Last Update Posted: 2013-11-25

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 31

Inclusion Criteria

• Disability: documented language or learning disorder
• Nonverbal IQ within 1 standard deviation of mean for age
• Oral language score 1 or more standard deviations below mean for age
• Problem areas: difficulty with language in any of the following areas - reading comprehension, writing, following verbal instructions, verbal expression

Exclusion Criteria

• hearing impairment
• autism spectrum disorder
• developmental delay
• genetic syndrome
• brain injury
• cerebral palsy
• seizure disorder

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
1 session per week	Complex sentence treatment protocol	-
2 sessions per week	Complex sentence treatment protocol	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Changes in Scores on Norm-Referenced and Criterion-Referenced Language Tests	within one month post treatment	A battery of language comprehension and production measures given pre-treatment will be administered again following treatment. The measures include broad norm-referenced oral and written language tests and a specific criterion-referenced measure of complex sentence production.

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Rush University Medical Center; 🇺🇸 Chicago, Illinois, United States

Governors State University; 🇺🇸 University Park, Illinois, United States