Improving STEM Outcomes for Young Children With Language Learning Disabilities Via Telehealth
Condition: Language Development Disorders
MeSH terms: Learning Disabilities; Language Development Disorders
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      In this study the investigators focus on a subset of at-risk students who find the language
      of science to be a barrier to the learning of science. These are the nearly 3 million
      children in the U.S. who have a learning disability called specific language impairment
      (SLI). Children with SLI present with deficits in spoken grammar and vocabulary and they are
      3.9 to 8.1 times more likely to have reading deficits than children in the general
      population.

      Specific Aim #1: To determine whether science-relevant language intervention enhances the
      learning of science concepts in young children who have SLI.

      Specific Aim #2: To determine whether science-relevant language intervention facilitates
      generalization of science concepts and practices in young children who have SLI
    

Detailed description: 
      63 4- to 7-year-olds who have not yet begun 1st grade, who are monolingual speakers of
      English, and who have SLI will participate. Note that the investigators may recruit extra
      participants to allow for attrition. The investigators will adopt a Randomized Controlled
      Trial design, randomly assigning participants into three intervention conditions: science
      only (the control arm), science + vocabulary supports, and science + grammar supports. Pre-
      and post-measures will reveal the extent of learning in each condition and comparisons
      between conditions will reveal whether the grammar and vocabulary supports improved learning.

      The hypothesis is that the language and learning of science are integrally related.
      Therefore, the investigators will use evidenced-based language interventions to improve the
      children's science-relevant language skills, with the prediction that this will cascade into
      changes in the acquisition of science concepts and practices:

        1. Children in the science + language intervention conditions will show greater gains in
           taught science concepts across the 6-week intervention period than children in the
           control arm.

        2. Children in the science + language intervention conditions will show greater gains from
           pretest to posttest on measures of generalized science concepts and practice than
           children in the control arm.

        3. Children who demonstrate the greatest improvement in the use of the language targets
           will also demonstrate the greatest improvements in taught concepts, generalized
           concepts, and generalized practice knowledge.

        4. Children will benefit from language supports directed at vocabulary as well as those
           directed at grammar, but these supports may differently benefit the science learning
           process.

      First the investigators will document that the language supported interventions resulted in
      improved language abilities by comparing performance on probes of grammar and vocabulary at
      posttest to pretest performance. The investigators expect significant improvements in
      vocabulary knowledge for the vocabulary intervention condition as compared to the other two
      conditions, and significant improvements in use of complement clauses for the grammar
      intervention condition as compared to the other two conditions. Next, to be tested are the
      predictions associated with the specific aims via a series of logistic mixed models. Mixed
      models are appropriate for designs with unbalanced cell sizes due to missing data (due to
      non-response and dropout). There will be one model for targeted science concept outcomes with
      condition (control arm, science + vocabulary, science + grammar) and time as independent
      variables (Predictions 1 and 4). There will also be one model each for generalized concepts
      and generalized practice outcomes with condition (control arm, science + vocabulary, science
      + grammar) and time (pretest and posttest) as independent variables (Predictions 2 and 4).
      Within-subject correlation will be accounted for with random subject intercepts. Additional
      random effects (including random item intercepts or random condition slopes by item) will be
      determined by selecting the model with the best model fit (lowest AIC value). In each of the
      models, it is further expected that amount of improvement in grammar and vocabulary are
      mediators between the outcome and the other factors (Prediction 3). To assess this
      prediction, performance on the language probes will be considered as covariates. It is
      expected that performance on the language probes after instruction will be a significant
      predictor of science learning, and that including performance on the language probes as a
      covariate will reduce or eliminate the effect of condition because language performance will
      be the main factor predicting science performance.
    

Intervention name(s): Language Intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The examiners will target vocabulary and grammar in the context of preschool science instructions.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Language Therapy, Randomized Controlled Trial, Specific Language Impairment, Developmental Language Disorder