Training Grammar With Meaning

NCT ID: NCT06250101

Last Updated: 2026-02-10

Study Results

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

24 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2024-06-17

Study Completion Date

2026-10-30

Brief Summary

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This study will enroll children between the ages of 4 and 6 years of age who exhibit significant difficulty developing language skills without any other handicapping conditions. Children will receive standardized language, hearing, and cognitive testing to confirm a diagnosis of developmental language disorder. Children will be enrolled in a half-day summer camp program for six weeks during which they will receive treatment designed to improve their language skills. Children will be seen again approximately six weeks after the end of treatment to determine how much learning they have retained.

Detailed Description

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Children between 4 years, 0 months and 6 years 11 months are eligible. A diagnosis of developmental language disorders will be confirmed as normal nonverbal cognitive function, passing a pure-tone audiometric screening, and a test score consistent with developmental language disorder on a standardized language test, and parent report of no other diagnosed handicapping condition. Speech skills and vocabulary skills will be described via standardized testing.

Children enrolled in treatment are seen for up to 28 consecutive weekdays. The study starts with three days of baseline assessment of morpheme use for potential treatment targets. Two are selected for study, with one treated and one tracked over the course of treatment. Treatment is embedded in child-friendly activities like games, book reading, and craft activities. Children are prompted to use the treated morpheme in conversation. Immediately following this attempt, the treating clinician repeats the child's utterance, correcting any ungrammatical forms. Half of the children will also receive explanations of what the key words in sentences mean (e.g., to twirl means to turn around fast). Generalization to untreated contexts is assessed 2-3 times weekly. Retention of learning is measured about six weeks after the end of treatment.

Conditions

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Language Disorders in Children

Study Design

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Allocation Method

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Hybrid single subject/group design
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Caregivers Outcome Assessors
Caregivers are not informed of their child's treatment target until after treatment concludes.

The clinician measuring retention of learning has not treated the children

Study Groups

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Grammar treatment including semantic support

Children receiving grammatical treatment will also receive a simple explanation concerning the meaning of verbs used to elicit grammatical forms.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Enhanced Conversational Recast treatment

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

In the context of child-friendly activities, the clinician prompts the child to attempt to use the grammatical form targeted in the treatment. The clinician immediately restates the child's attempt (i.e., the recast), correcting any ungrammatical elements. Clinicians elicit and recasts 24 utterances per session.

Grammatical treatment excluding semantic support

Children receiving grammatical treatment will not receive any explanation concerning the meaning of verbs used to elicit grammatical forms.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Enhanced Conversational Recast treatment

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

In the context of child-friendly activities, the clinician prompts the child to attempt to use the grammatical form targeted in the treatment. The clinician immediately restates the child's attempt (i.e., the recast), correcting any ungrammatical elements. Clinicians elicit and recasts 24 utterances per session.

Interventions

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Enhanced Conversational Recast treatment

In the context of child-friendly activities, the clinician prompts the child to attempt to use the grammatical form targeted in the treatment. The clinician immediately restates the child's attempt (i.e., the recast), correcting any ungrammatical elements. Clinicians elicit and recasts 24 utterances per session.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

Language scores consistent with a developmental language disorder nonverbal cognitive scores consistent with normal-range intellectual functioning

Exclusion Criteria

hearing loss Intellectual disability Other handicapping conditions
Minimum Eligible Age

48 Months

Maximum Eligible Age

83 Months

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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University of Arizona

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Elena Plante

Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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The University of Arizona

Tucson, Arizona, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Plante E, Ogilvie T, Vance R, Aguilar JM, Dailey NS, Meyers C, Lieser AM, Burton R. Variability in the language input to children enhances learning in a treatment context. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2014 Nov;23(4):530-45. doi: 10.1044/2014_AJSLP-13-0038.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24700145 (View on PubMed)

Meyers-Denman CN, Plante E. Dose Schedule and Enhanced Conversational Recast Treatment for Children With Specific Language Impairment. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2016 Oct 1;47(4):334-346. doi: 10.1044/2016_LSHSS-15-0064.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 27701629 (View on PubMed)

Plante E, Mettler HM, Tucci A, Vance R. Maximizing Treatment Efficiency in Developmental Language Disorder: Positive Effects in Half the Time. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2019 Aug 9;28(3):1233-1247. doi: 10.1044/2019_AJSLP-18-0285. Epub 2019 Jul 25.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31343897 (View on PubMed)

Sweeney L, Plante E, Mettler HM, Hall J, Vance R. Less Versus More: The Effect of Recast Length in Treatment of Grammatical Errors. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2024 Jan 11;55(1):152-165. doi: 10.1044/2023_LSHSS-23-00049. Epub 2023 Dec 1.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 38039976 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

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DLD-Tx2

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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