Partial Word Knowledge Growth in Children With LLD

Children with language-learning disabilities (LLD) have language and reading skills that are weaker than those of typically developing children. In the school-age years, reading is a primary means of exposure to new vocabulary for typically developing children. Although these children would not be expected to master a new word through a single exposure to it in text, children show evidence of partial word knowledge growth (e.g., Wagovich & Newhoff, 2004). The purpose of this project is to characterize the partial word knowledge growth of children with LLD, in comparison to children with typical language skills. Five forms of partial word knowledge (e.g., orthographic, word discrimination, syntactic, emotional content, and general semantic domain knowledge) are being measured. The study's hypotheses are that children with LLD, like typically developing peers, will demonstrate partial word knowledge growth from exposure to unfamiliar words in text, but that they will show a different pattern of growth across the five forms of partial word knowledge being assessed.

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Key information

Conditions

Language Disorders Communication Disorders Nervous System Diseases Neurobehavioral Manifestations Neurologic Manifestations Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Signs and Symptoms

Age range

12 year–18 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

Univ. of Missouri Dept. of Communication Science & Disorders

Columbia, Missouri, 65211, United States

About this study

The purpose of this line of research is to examine the process by which children acquire partial meanings of unfamiliar words when they encounter the words for the first time in reading.

The proposed pilot study requires 6th grade children to attend three, 1-hour sessions, 2-3 days apart. The protocol for the present study is as follows: In the first session, the parents of the children will complete a consent form and a parent questionnaire; the children will complete an assent form, similar to the consent but with simpler language. Next, one half of the children will complete two pre-tests: a checklist and a multiple choice test; the other half will complete the checklist and a distracter task. In the second session, the children will read 2 of 4 possible stories, grade-appropriate in reading level and content. After reading each story, the children will be asked to write a one-page summary of the story. In the third session the children will all complete the checklist and multiple choice measure. These measures, as post-tests, are designed to assess the types of word knowledge children accrue when they read an unfamiliar word in a story.

The purpose of the proposed pilot study, then, is to assess the adequacy of the multiple choice measure, which is newly developed, for word knowledge measurement. In addition, the study will assess whether the group who received the multiple choice measure before reading the stories performs better on the posttests than the children who received only the checklist in the pretest phase. In sum, then, the purposes of the pilot are (a) to assess the adequacy of the new multiple choice measure for detecting word knowledge, and (b) to assess the adequacy of the design, prior to conducting the large-scale experiment later.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

test scores indicating language and/or reading difficulties
reading at approximately a 6th grade level
nonverbal cognitive screening within normal limits
hearing screening within normal limits

Exclusion criteria

history of neurological conditions such as seizure disorder or TBI
history of emotional/behavior disorder

Treatment and study plan

Primary outcomes

Percent words learned for each of 5 partial word knowledge types

Time frame: 2 weeks

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Missouri-Columbia

Other

Collaborators

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Registry information

Important dates

Study start: 2006
Primary completion: 2009
Study completion: 2009
First posted: Oct 23, 2007
Registry last updated: Oct 4, 2016

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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