The Relationship Between Child Language Proficiency and Language of Treatment on the Outcomes of Bilingual Children with Developmental Language Disorder

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON · Oct 13, 2023

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is investigating how the language skills of bilingual children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) affect their treatment outcomes. The researchers want to understand whether using English, Spanish, or a mix of both languages in therapy sessions helps these children improve their language abilities better. This is important because there are many bilingual children in the U.S. who struggle with language, and speech therapists currently lack clear guidance on how to best support them.

To participate in the trial, children must be between 4 and 6 years old, show signs of language difficulties, and be able to speak simple sentences in both English and Spanish. They should also pass a hearing test and have a nonverbal IQ score that meets certain requirements. Children with serious sensory or psychiatric issues will not be included. If eligible, participants can expect to take part in sessions that alternate between English and Spanish, aimed at helping them improve specific language skills. This study aims to provide valuable insights that could help bilingual children achieve better language and academic outcomes in the future.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • 1. parent concerns and/or a history of receiving services in the public schools
• • 2. age-specific cutoffs for the morphosyntax subtests for their best language (English or Spanish) on the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment. The cut-off score for best language for 4-year-olds is 84, for 5-year-olds is 85, and for 6-year-olds is 81. Using the best-language approach, these scores have a sensitivity over 90% and specificity over 80% for children between 4;0 and 6;11 years of age , which is considered acceptable for studies of diagnostic accuracy.
• • 3. nonverbal IQ, as measured by the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test-2, matrices subtest, will be at or above a standard score of 70.
• • 4. pass a hearing screening test
• • 5. participants must be bilingual, that is children must be producing at least simple sentences in spontaneous speech in both Spanish and English, or understand English and Spanish.
• • 6. participants must be able to benefit from treatment for both conditional adverbial clauses and complement clauses, as evidenced by accuracy below 40% on 10-item elicited production probes in both languages
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • 1) children with significant sensory-motor concerns or psychiatric disorders per parent report will not be enrolled.