Exercise Training in Children With Communication Impairments

NCT ID: NCT06340893

Last Updated: 2025-05-21

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

40 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2024-07-02

Study Completion Date

2026-05-15

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

This clinical trial study has two goals. The first goal is to establish fitness levels, participation in physical activities, and fine/gross motor abilities for children with development language disorder (DLD). DLD occurs in 1/13 children and children with DLD often have poorer fine/gross motor skills than those with typical development. The second goal is to determine whether physical exercise helps children with DLD and typical development to learn better and improve fitness and fine/gross motor abilities more than participating in restful play activities.

All children (DLD and typically developing) will undergo communication, fine/gross motor and fitness testing. Children will be randomly assigned to participate in an exercise program (n =20) or to a restful play program (n = 20). Both programs will take place 3x/week for 6 weeks and children will only participate in one of the two programs.

Children in the exercise program will do activities to train cardiovascular fitness, agility, balance, strength, and endurance while children in the restful play condition will do things like play with legos and color.

Researchers will compare changes in learning tasks and fitness levels for children (DLD and typically developing) who participated in the exercise program vs. restful play program.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

Communication impairments affect \~10% of children in the US between 3-10 years of age, and fine/gross motor deficits co-occur in an astounding 30-85% of this population. One subpopulation that evidences high rates of co-occurring language and motor deficits is children with developmental language disorder (DLD; a highly common disorder that affects expressive and/or receptive language in 1/13 children). Consequently, millions of children present with these debilitating impairments that require time-consuming and costly therapy, which typically occurs in discipline-specific silos. The siloed approach has limitations as it fails to leverage potentially synergistic effects that may be achieved when the whole child is treated, rather than intervene discipline by discipline.

Alternative, ground-shifting interventions that harness neuroplasticity and yield multisystem gains are needed to fill this gap in treatment options for children with co-occurring language and motor deficits.

The goal of the proposed research is two-fold. The Aim 1 study will establish motor performance and fitness levels for children with DLD and carefully characterize the motor deficits of children in this population. The Aim 2 study is a Phase 0/Early Phase 1 random control trial (RCT) that tests the efficacy of physical exercise as treatment to promote cognitive-linguistic and fitness gains in children with DLD. Participants will be randomly assigned to undergo 6 weeks (3x/week) of exercise training (i.e., activities to train cardiovascular fitness, agility, balance, strength, endurance) or to a restful play condition (e.g., legos and coloring) on the same schedule. Both interventions will be provided in small groups. Cognitive-linguistic and fitness will be assessed pre-treatment and again immediately post treatment and at 1-month, and 3-months post treatment to determine treatment and maintenance gains on these measures.

This research will gather vital information for a Phase 2 trial of preliminary efficacy and contribute high-quality evidence that will help speech language pathologists and other practitioners make evidence-based clinical decisions. The long-term goal of this research program is to identify the breadth of comorbid impairments in children with communication disorders and develop optimally effective treatments to maximize outcomes and quality of life for the millions of children and families coping with communication impairments.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Developmental Language Disorder

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Participants will be randomly assigned to the exercise intervention group or to the restful play (sham) condition.
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Outcome Assessors
Outcome assessors will be blinded to group and will be different to those conducting the interventions.

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

Exercise

This group will receive treatment 3x/week for 6 weeks

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Exercise

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will participate in cardiovascular, agility, balance, strength and coordination training.

Restful Play

This group will receive treatment 3x/week for 6 weeks.

Group Type SHAM_COMPARATOR

Restful Play

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

This group will engage in restful play activities such as coloring and playing with legos.

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Exercise

Participants will participate in cardiovascular, agility, balance, strength and coordination training.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Restful Play

This group will engage in restful play activities such as coloring and playing with legos.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

Children with a diagnosis of developmental language disorder (DLD) or typically developing controls will be included.


* (1) between 5 and 9 years old at enrollment
* (2) from homes where the primary language spoken is English
* (3) normal hearing based on parent report and audiometric screening
* (4) typical nonverbal cognition as determined by a T-score within 1.5 standard deviations of the mean on nonverbal subtests of the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales

Exclusion Criteria

Exclusionary Criteria are:

* (1) diagnosis of disorder that significantly affects social interactions (e.g., autism), as per referral diagnosis or which is identified during initial screening or assessment phase
* (2) vision impairments that prevent participation in our experimental protocol
* (3) inability for any reason to participate in assessment and/or treatment protocols
Minimum Eligible Age

5 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

9 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

University of Arizona

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Marquette University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Jenya Iuzzini-Seigel, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Marquette University

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

Marquette U

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

United States

Central Contacts

Reach out to these primary contacts for questions about participation or study logistics.

Jenya Iuzzini-Seigel, PhD

Role: CONTACT

414-288-1529

Danielle Rice

Role: CONTACT

Facility Contacts

Find local site contact details for specific facilities participating in the trial.

Jenya Iuzzini-Seigel, PhD

Role: primary

5854894683

References

Explore related publications, articles, or registry entries linked to this study.

Iuzzini-Seigel J, Moorer L, Tamplain P. An Investigation of Developmental Coordination Disorder Characteristics in Children With Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2022 Oct 6;53(4):1006-1021. doi: 10.1044/2022_LSHSS-21-00163. Epub 2022 Aug 30.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 36041512 (View on PubMed)

Iuzzini-Seigel J. Motor Performance in Children With Childhood Apraxia of Speech and Speech Sound Disorders. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2019 Sep 20;62(9):3220-3233. doi: 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-S-18-0380. Epub 2019 Sep 3.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31479382 (View on PubMed)

Iuzzini-Seigel J. Procedural Learning, Grammar, and Motor Skills in Children With Childhood Apraxia of Speech, Speech Sound Disorder, and Typically Developing Speech. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2021 Apr 14;64(4):1081-1103. doi: 10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00581. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 33784194 (View on PubMed)

Zelaznik HN, Goffman L. Generalized motor abilities and timing behavior in children with specific language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2010 Apr;53(2):383-93. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0204).

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 20360463 (View on PubMed)

Castelli DM, Hillman CH, Buck SM, Erwin HE. Physical fitness and academic achievement in third- and fifth-grade students. J Sport Exerc Psychol. 2007 Apr;29(2):239-52. doi: 10.1123/jsep.29.2.239.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 17568069 (View on PubMed)

Kao SC, Westfall DR, Parks AC, Pontifex MB, Hillman CH. Muscular and Aerobic Fitness, Working Memory, and Academic Achievement in Children. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2017 Mar;49(3):500-508. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001132.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 27776002 (View on PubMed)

Ludyga S, Gerber M, Kamijo K. Exercise types and working memory components during development. Trends Cogn Sci. 2022 Mar;26(3):191-203. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.12.004. Epub 2022 Jan 11.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 35031211 (View on PubMed)

Haga M. The relationship between physical fitness and motor competence in children. Child Care Health Dev. 2008 May;34(3):329-34. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2008.00814.x.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 18410639 (View on PubMed)

Hillman CH, Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Castelli DM, Hall EE, Kramer AF. The effect of acute treadmill walking on cognitive control and academic achievement in preadolescent children. Neuroscience. 2009 Mar 31;159(3):1044-54. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.01.057. Epub 2009 Feb 3.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19356688 (View on PubMed)

Ullman MT, Pierpont EI. Specific language impairment is not specific to language: the procedural deficit hypothesis. Cortex. 2005 Jun;41(3):399-433. doi: 10.1016/s0010-9452(08)70276-4.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15871604 (View on PubMed)

Alt M, Gray S, Hogan TP, Schlesinger N, Cowan N. Spoken Word Learning Differences Among Children With Dyslexia, Concomitant Dyslexia and Developmental Language Disorder, and Typical Development. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2019 Oct 10;50(4):540-561. doi: 10.1044/2019_LSHSS-VOIA-18-0138. Epub 2019 Oct 10.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31600465 (View on PubMed)

Braaksma P, Stuive I, Garst RME, Wesselink CF, van der Sluis CK, Dekker R, Schoemaker MM. Characteristics of physical activity interventions and effects on cardiorespiratory fitness in children aged 6-12 years-A systematic review. J Sci Med Sport. 2018 Mar;21(3):296-306. doi: 10.1016/j.jsams.2017.07.015. Epub 2017 Jul 20.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 28899655 (View on PubMed)

Pruitt M, Morini G. Examining the Role of Physical Activity on Word Learning in School-Aged Children. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2021 May 11;64(5):1712-1725. doi: 10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00359. Epub 2021 Apr 28.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 33909448 (View on PubMed)

Hall, L., Hume, C., & Tazzyman, S. (2016, June). Five degrees of happiness: Effective smiley face likert scales for evaluating with children. In Proceedings of the the 15th international conference on interaction design and children (pp. 311-321).

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Leger LA, Lambert J. A maximal multistage 20-m shuttle run test to predict VO2 max. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1982;49(1):1-12. doi: 10.1007/BF00428958.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 7201922 (View on PubMed)

Nissen, M. J., & Bullemer, P. (1987). Attentional requirements of learning: Evidence from performance measures. Cognitive psychology, 19(1), 1-32.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Wagner MO, Kastner J, Petermann F, Bos K. Factorial validity of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (age band 2). Res Dev Disabil. 2011 Mar-Apr;32(2):674-80. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2010.11.016. Epub 2010 Dec 13.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 21146955 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

76117

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.

Building Complex Language
NCT01337232 COMPLETED PHASE1/PHASE2