Clinical Trial Details
— Status: Not yet recruiting
Administrative data
| NCT number |
NCT05988190 |
| Other study ID # |
BinghamtonU |
| Secondary ID |
|
| Status |
Not yet recruiting |
| Phase |
N/A
|
| First received |
|
| Last updated |
|
| Start date |
November 2023 |
| Est. completion date |
August 2026 |
Study information
| Verified date |
August 2023 |
| Source |
Binghamton University |
| Contact |
Dawna M Duff, PhD |
| Phone |
6077774676 |
| Email |
dduff[@]binghamton.edu |
| Is FDA regulated |
No |
| Health authority |
|
| Study type |
Interventional
|
Clinical Trial Summary
Many children have developmental language disorder, which makes it difficulty to learn
language, including vocabulary, and results in ongoing academic and social difficulties.
Despite the fact that most words are learned in context without direct teaching, we know very
little about how children with developmental language disorder learn words in context. This
project will combine, for the first time, two strategies which improve contextual word
learning in children with typical development, and test their effect in both typically
developing children, and those with developmental language disorder. The results will provide
timely information that will contribute to evidence based practice for contextual word
learning in children with developmental language disorder.
Description:
Vocabulary achievement impacts important life outcomes such as academic success, vocational
options, and earning potential. Developmental language disorder is a common disorder which
impacts word learning, both when words are directly taught and when words are learned
implicitly after multiple contextual encounters. Contextual word learning is the most common
situation in which words are learned, and this typically occurs while reading. As such,
interventions which increase the effectiveness of contextual word learning have the potential
to meaningfully alter the trajectory of vocabulary growth.
The long term objective of this research program is to develop effective interventions for
children with developmental language disorder, which target contextual word learning while
reading. The overall aim of this study is to test the effectiveness of an intervention which
combines two approaches known to be effective in typical development: metalinguistic training
about semantic inferencing, and use of multiple texts with high semantic diversity. Semantic
diversity refers to the range of semantic content in texts which contain the novel words. In
Aim 1, we test the effectiveness of this novel intervention in children with typical
development (n=50), and in Aim 2, we evaluate its effect in children with developmental
language disorder (n=50). Participants will complete a three session metalinguistic
intervention involving repeated meaning generation, explanation about proposed meanings, and
feedback about accuracy. The quality of semantic inferencing about novel words which are
untreated (not involved in the intervention) will be measured pre- and post-intervention as a
measure of the effect of intervention on the skill of semantic inferencing. Measures of
retention of the semantics of words used in intervention will be taken one week after each
session, and are expected to increase with more exposure to the metalinguistic intervention.
Within sessions, words will be presented in three different semantic diversity contexts: no
diversity (repeated stories), medium diversity (unique stories with the same global context),
and high diversity (unique stories with different global contexts). Based on prior research
about the effect of semantic diversity on word learning in children and adults, we predict
that measures of retention of the semantics of words used in intervention are expected to be
highest in the high semantic diversity condition.
Results from this study will be used to support an application for a fully powered randomized
controlled trial of a contextual word learning intervention for children with DLD, and will
inform best practices for children with typical development. The project is innovative
because we will examine contextual word learning in developmental language disorders, we will
combine two treatment approaches in a novel way, and because we focus not only on the effect
on treated words, but also on generalization of the skill of semantic inferencing.
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