Evaluating Treatment Efficacy of Two Syntactic Treatment Procedures for Children With Specific Language Impairment (SLI): A Randomized Controlled Trial
Condition: Language Impairment in School-years
MeSH terms: Language Disorders; Specific Language Disorder
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Specific-language-impairment (SLI) is defined as a significant disorder in language
      development, which affects one's daily functioning, but not attributable to sensory,
      intellectual or neuropsychological deficit. Children with SLI make up one of the largest
      subgroups of students with special educational needs (SEN) in Hong Kong. Without appropriate
      intervention, SLI may persist into adolescence and lead to long-term literacy difficulties
      and social rejection, which were found to be associated with societal problems like
      unemployment and crime commitment. Among the language domains, syntax/grammar has been viewed
      as a core deficit in these children. Speech-Language-Pathologists (SLPs) often provide
      intervention on this aspect for them. However, very few intervention efficacy studies could
      be identified.

      Without pertinent research evidence, clinical-decision-making in treatment approach selection
      may be dubious. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of two procedures for syntax
      intervention, namely the Sentence-Combining (SC) and Narrative-Based (NAR) procedures using a
      randomized-controlled-trial (RCT) design. These two procedures have been indicated to be
      effective in previous case reports and expert opinions. By using the rigorous study design of
      RCT, this study provides stronger evidence to support clinicians in determining the most
      effective treatment procedure. To achieve sufficient statistical power to detect the
      treatment difference, 52 children with SLI will be recruited and randomly assigned to one of
      the treatment groups. The primary outcome will be measured by a standardized language
      assessment. Intention-to-treat analysis will be employed. Pre- and post-treatment scores on
      the outcomes will be subject to analyses of covariance with the pre-treatment scores as the
      covariate.
    


Intervention name(s): Syntax treatment via sentence-combining method; Syntax treatment managed by narrative-based treatment
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Sentence combining method is a discrete trial method that teaches children to form complex sentences of a same structure through drilling and modeling.
Treatments are conduced by school-speech therapist once two weeks for 8 sessions.; Target structures are embedded into narrative stories. Children are exposed to these stories and are scaffolded to form the target sentence structure through answering questions, cloze passage and story retell. Treatment are conduced by school-speech therapist once two weeks for 8 sessions.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double (Participant, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: language impairment; language disorders; syntax treatment; narrative-based treatment