A Comparison of Language Intervention Programs

Summary

Brief Summary:

Nearly 7% of elementary school children present with difficulties learning and using language. Unfortunately, language impairments are often long lasting and may have serious social, academic, and vocational ramifications. More than 1 million children receive language intervention in the public schools each year, and many more are seen in hospitals and other clinical settings.

This randomized clinical trial compares the language outcomes of Fast ForWord to two other interventions (computer assisted language intervention without acoustically modified speech and individual language intervention) and to the outcomes of an academic enrichment (control) condition. Each year for 3 years, children will be randomly assigned to each of the four conditions at three regional sites (Austin, Texas, Dallas, Texas, and Lawrence, Kansas). The treatments will be administered in special summer programs. The primary research question is which intervention results in the most improvement in the composite language score from the Oral and Written Language Scales. Secondary questions include which intervention results in the greatest gains in conversational language,which intervention results in the greatest gains 3 and 6 months after training, which intervention results in the greatest improvement in auditory perception, and which intervention is the most cost effective.

The results of the study will have theoretical and practical value. Theoretically, the study tests the temporal processing hypothesis of language impairment. Practically, the study will describe and compare the language, communication, auditory processing and academic outcomes of different language interventions. The study will help clinicians and administrators choose the most effective and least expensive treatment for the children they serve.

Conditions

• Language Disorders

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Fast ForWord

BEHAVIORAL

Computer Assisted Language Intervention

BEHAVIORAL

Individual Language Intervention

BEHAVIORAL

Academic enrichment

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

  lead NIH

Principal Investigators

• Ronald Gillam, PhD · Pflugerville Independent School District

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

6 Years

Max Age

9 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2002-06-30

Completion

2005-01-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations