Trial Outcomes & Findings for Retrieval-Based Word Learning in Developmental Language Disorder: Verb Learning (NCT NCT06001866)

NCT ID: NCT06001866

Last Updated: 2025-08-13

Results Overview

Five minutes after second learning session, child is asked to recall and say the word associated with each novel action learned under each of the two conditions: a condition in which spaced retrieval trials occurred and one in which there were no retrieval trials. For Learned items, each of the four verbs was tested with videos of two of the agent-object pairs the child had seen during the learning period, for a total of 8 recall items. Children were prompted to retrieve/produce the novel verbs in the sentence structure used during learning.

• Recruitment status: COMPLETED
• Study phase: NA
• Target enrollment: 31 participants
• Primary outcome timeframe: 5 minutes after end of Day 2 (second day) learning period.
• Results posted on: 2025-08-13

Participant Flow

Children with DLD are recruited primarily through speech pathologists and preschool teachers. They are provided with eligibility guidelines and a parent letter. Once the parent is given the letter, they choose to contact us, if interested. Children with typical language development are recruited through advertising in preschools.

Children are initially tested to see if they meet the inclusionary and exclusionary criteria of Developmental Language Disorder. These include falling below age level on a language test, while passing a hearing screening, a non-verbal IQ test, and an autism screener. Many children who are recruited and consented do not meet all these criteria pointing to the fact that DLD is not readily recognizable to non-professionals (parents, preschool teachers).

Participant milestones

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development Children whose language development is as expected for their age.
Overall Study STARTED	14	17
Overall Study COMPLETED	14	13
Overall Study NOT COMPLETED	0	4

Reasons for withdrawal

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development Children whose language development is as expected for their age.
Overall Study Withdrawal by Subject	0	2
Overall Study Protocol Violation	0	2

Baseline Characteristics

Retrieval-Based Word Learning in Developmental Language Disorder: Verb Learning

Baseline characteristics by cohort

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder n=14 Participants These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development n=13 Participants Children whose language development is as expected for their age.	Total n=27 Participants Total of all reporting groups
Age, Continuous	57.21 months STANDARD_DEVIATION 5.19 • n=5 Participants	59.00 months STANDARD_DEVIATION 5.26 • n=7 Participants	58.07 months STANDARD_DEVIATION 5.20 • n=5 Participants
Sex: Female, Male Female	9 Participants n=5 Participants	7 Participants n=7 Participants	16 Participants n=5 Participants
Sex: Female, Male Male	5 Participants n=5 Participants	6 Participants n=7 Participants	11 Participants n=5 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB) Hispanic or Latino	1 Participants n=5 Participants	0 Participants n=7 Participants	1 Participants n=5 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB) Not Hispanic or Latino	13 Participants n=5 Participants	13 Participants n=7 Participants	26 Participants n=5 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB) Unknown or Not Reported	0 Participants n=5 Participants	0 Participants n=7 Participants	0 Participants n=5 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) American Indian or Alaska Native	0 Participants n=5 Participants	0 Participants n=7 Participants	0 Participants n=5 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Asian	1 Participants n=5 Participants	0 Participants n=7 Participants	1 Participants n=5 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0 Participants n=5 Participants	0 Participants n=7 Participants	0 Participants n=5 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Black or African American	2 Participants n=5 Participants	1 Participants n=7 Participants	3 Participants n=5 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) White	10 Participants n=5 Participants	11 Participants n=7 Participants	21 Participants n=5 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) More than one race	1 Participants n=5 Participants	1 Participants n=7 Participants	2 Participants n=5 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Unknown or Not Reported	0 Participants n=5 Participants	0 Participants n=7 Participants	0 Participants n=5 Participants
Region of Enrollment United States	14 participants n=5 Participants	13 participants n=7 Participants	27 participants n=5 Participants
Maternal Education in Years	16.71 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 3.36 • n=5 Participants	17.42 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.63 • n=7 Participants	17.06 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.89 • n=5 Participants

PRIMARY outcome

Timeframe: 5 minutes after end of Day 2 (second day) learning period.

Five minutes after second learning session, child is asked to recall and say the word associated with each novel action learned under each of the two conditions: a condition in which spaced retrieval trials occurred and one in which there were no retrieval trials. For Learned items, each of the four verbs was tested with videos of two of the agent-object pairs the child had seen during the learning period, for a total of 8 recall items. Children were prompted to retrieve/produce the novel verbs in the sentence structure used during learning.

Outcome measures

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder n=14 Participants These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development n=13 Participants Children whose language development is as expected for their age.
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 5 Mins. for Learned Items Learned 5 min RSR condition	3.79 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.60	5.31 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.63
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 5 Mins. for Learned Items Learned 5 min RS condition	2.86 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.63	3.38 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.65

PRIMARY outcome

Timeframe: 5 minutes after end of Day 2 (second day) learning period.

Five minutes after second learning session, child is asked to recall and say the word associated with each novel action learned under one of two conditions: a condition in which spaced retrieval trials occurred and one in which there were no retrieval trials. For Generalized items each of the four verbs was tested with videos of two agent-object pairs that were new (that the child had not seen during the learning period), for a total of 8 recall items. Children were prompted to retrieve/produce the novel verbs in the sentence structure used during learning.

Outcome measures

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder n=14 Participants These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development n=13 Participants Children whose language development is as expected for their age.
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 5 Mins. for Generalized Items Generalized 5 min RSR condition	3.79 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.58	4.85 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.60
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 5 Mins. for Generalized Items Generalized 5 min RS condition	2.43 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.57	3.46 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.59

PRIMARY outcome

Timeframe: 1 week after Day 2 (second day) learning period.

One week after second learning session, child is asked to recall and say the word associated with each novel action learned under one of two conditions: a condition in which spaced retrieval trials occurred and one in which there were no retrieval trials. For Learned items, each of the four verbs was tested with videos of two of the agent-object pairs the child had seen during the learning period, for a total of 8 recall items. Children were prompted to retrieve/produce the novel verbs in the sentence structure used during learning.

Outcome measures

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder n=14 Participants These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development n=13 Participants Children whose language development is as expected for their age.
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 1 Week for Learned Items. Learned 1 week RSR condition	3.64 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.62	5.46 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.64
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 1 Week for Learned Items. RS condition	3.50 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.62	3.77 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.65

PRIMARY outcome

Timeframe: 1 week after Day 2 (second day) learning period.

One week after second learning session, child is asked to recall and say the word associated with each novel action learned under one of two conditions: a condition in which spaced retrieval trials occurred and one in which there were no retrieval trials. For Generalized items, each of the four verbs was tested with videos of two agent-object pairs that were new (that the child had not seen during the learning period), for a total of 8 recall items. Children were prompted to retrieve/produce the novel verbs in the sentence structure used during learning.

Outcome measures

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder n=14 Participants These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development n=13 Participants Children whose language development is as expected for their age.
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 1 Week for Generalized Items Generalized 1 week RSR condition	3.57 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.61	5.38 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.63
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 1 Week for Generalized Items Generalized 1 week RS condition	3.57 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.56	3.92 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 0.58

PRIMARY outcome

Timeframe: 1 week after Day 2 (second day) learning period.

Child is asked to describe the video of a novel action using the novel verb in a frame different from the one learned (i.e.,"X likes to VERB the Y") in repeated spaced retrieval and repeated study conditions. Each verb is tested with four items: three items made use of videos of agent-object pairs the child had seen during the learning period and one item used an agent-object pair that was new. There were eight items total per condition.

Outcome measures

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder n=14 Participants These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development n=13 Participants Children whose language development is as expected for their age.
Accuracy of Verb Recall (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in a New Structure in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions Repeated Spaced Retrieval	5.29 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 1.22	10.23 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 1.27
Accuracy of Verb Recall (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in a New Structure in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions Repeated Study	5.57 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 1.41	7.38 number of verbs recalled Standard Error 1.47

PRIMARY outcome

Timeframe: 1 week after Day 2 (second day) learning period.

One week after the learning session, child is asked to indicate (by pointing) which of 2 video options is referred to upon hearing a sentence using a novel word learned in either the repeated spaced retrieval or repeated study condition. Each verb is tested with two items which used videos of agent-object pairs that the child had seen during the learning period, for a total of eight items.

Outcome measures

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder n=14 Participants These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development n=13 Participants Children whose language development is as expected for their age.
Verb Recognition (Number of Words Accurately Identified) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions for Learned Items. Learned RSR Condition	7.00 verbs with correct video identified Standard Error 0.24	7.92 verbs with correct video identified Standard Error 0.25
Verb Recognition (Number of Words Accurately Identified) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions for Learned Items. Learned RS condition	7.00 verbs with correct video identified Standard Error 0.24	8.00 verbs with correct video identified Standard Error 0.25

PRIMARY outcome

Timeframe: 1 week after Day 2 (second day) learning period.

One week after the learning session, child is asked to indicate (by pointing) which of 2 video options is referred to upon hearing a sentence using a novel word learned in either the repeated spaced retrieval or repeated study condition. Each verb is tested with two items which used videos of agent-object pairs that were new (that the child had not seen during the learning period), for a total of eight items.

Outcome measures

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder n=14 Participants These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development n=13 Participants Children whose language development is as expected for their age.
Verb Recognition (Number of Words Accurately Identified) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions for Generalized Items. Generalized RSR condition	7.36 verbs wtih correct video identified Standard Error 0.23	7.61 verbs wtih correct video identified Standard Error 0.24
Verb Recognition (Number of Words Accurately Identified) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions for Generalized Items. Generalized RS condition	7.14 verbs wtih correct video identified Standard Error 0.23	7.77 verbs wtih correct video identified Standard Error 0.24

SECONDARY outcome

Timeframe: Test completed at start of study

The Peabody Picture Vocabulary is an individually administered, norm-reference test that assesses receptive vocabulary (ability to understand individual words) for children and adults ages 2 years 6 months to 90 years and older. Standard scores are derived from number correct. Standard scores can range from a minimum of 40 and 160. Standard scores between 85 and 115 (1 standard deviation above and below the mean of 100) are interpreted as reflecting receptive vocabulary levels expected for age. Scores below 85 are interpreted as reflecting receptive vocabulary levels below what is expected for age.Scores above 115 are interpreted as reflecting receptive vocabulary levels above what is expected for age.

Outcome measures

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder n=14 Participants These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development n=13 Participants Children whose language development is as expected for their age.
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fifth Edition	98.07 score on a scale Standard Deviation 11.28	116.69 score on a scale Standard Deviation 10.98

SECONDARY outcome

Timeframe: information collected at start of study

Educational attainment of child's mother in terms of years of education

Outcome measures

Measure	Children With Developmental Language Disorder n=14 Participants These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Children With Typical Language Development n=13 Participants Children whose language development is as expected for their age.
Maternal Education in Years	16.71 years Standard Deviation 3.36	17.42 years Standard Deviation 2.36

Adverse Events

Children With Developmental Language Disorder

Serious events: 0 serious events

Other events: 0 other events

Deaths: 0 deaths

Children With Typical Language Development

Serious events: 0 serious events

Other events: 0 other events

Deaths: 0 deaths

Serious adverse events

Adverse event data not reported

Other adverse events

Adverse event data not reported

Additional Information

Dr. Patricia Deevy, Research Associate

Purdue University

Phone: 765-496-1821

Email: deevy@purdue.edu

Results disclosure agreements

• Principal investigator is a sponsor employee
• Publication restrictions are in place