NCT06911138 Treating Complex Grammar Knowledge Deficits in School-Age Children With Developmental Language Disorder
| NCT ID | NCT06911138 |
| Status | Recruiting |
| Phase | — |
| Sponsor | Ohio University |
| Condition | Developmental Language Disorders |
| Study Type | INTERVENTIONAL |
| Enrollment | 150 participants |
| Start Date | 2024-12-01 |
| Primary Completion | 2027-08-31 |
Eligibility & Interventions
Eligibility Fast-Check
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What to Expect as a Participant
You will actively receive the study intervention — which may be a drug, biologic, device, or procedure.
This trial targets 150 participants in total. It began in 2024-12-01 with a primary completion date of 2027-08-31.
⚠ This information is for research awareness only. Always consult your physician before joining any clinical trial. Participation is voluntary and you may withdraw at any time.
Brief Summary
The goal of this project is to compare the relative effectiveness of two novel treatments to improve the complex grammar knowledge of school-age (8-11-year-old) children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Treatment 1 is an implicit approach to promoting children's automatic grammar learning and Treatment 2 is a more conventional explicit approach in which participants are taught the rules underlying the grammar. Treatment 1 involves children listening to an examiner produce a target sentence 20 times during each training session while describing a picture. The children will then see a picture and be asked to describe the action taking place. Treatment 2 involves children listening to an examiner describe the action occurring in a picture using a sentence pattern targeted to the child's deficit. The child will then be asked who did the action in the sentence and who received the action, after which the examiner will provide specific feedback about why the child's response was correct or incorrect. The expectation is that over a short period children will begin to use their targeted sentence pattern after hearing the examiner produce it many times. Children will complete four outcome measures (syntactic knowledge, sentence comprehension, sentence chunking, narrative comprehension/ production) prior to treatment, immediately after treatment, and five weeks after treatment. Children will be randomly assigned to one of the two treatments. Both treatments will be delivered 20 times over 10 weeks. The investigators anticipate that the children receiving Treatment 1 will show stronger gains in knowledge across the four outcome measures.
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria: * Language impairment: standard score of 34 or lower on the Test of Language and Learning Skills * Nonverbal IQ: nonverbal quotient of 77 or higher * Normal range hearing * Normal or corrected vision * Native English speaker * Sentence comprehension screening/sentence chunking screening 50% or lower Exclusion Criteria: * Neurodevelopmental disorder * Emotional/behavioral disorder * Frank neurological disorder * Treatment for complex syntax from outside clinician
Contact & Investigator
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can join the NCT06911138 clinical trial?
This trial is open to participants of all sexes, aged 8 Years or older, up to 11 Years, studying Developmental Language Disorders. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria are listed in the Eligibility Criteria section. Always confirm your eligibility with the research team before applying.
Is NCT06911138 currently recruiting?
Yes, NCT06911138 is actively recruiting participants. Contact the research team at j.eckert@ohio.edu for enrollment information.
Where is the NCT06911138 trial being conducted?
This trial is being conducted at Tucson, United States, Athens, United States, Logan, United States, Morgantown, United States.
Who is sponsoring the NCT06911138 clinical trial?
NCT06911138 is sponsored by Ohio University. The trial plans to enroll 150 participants.