A Comparison of Language Intervention Programs

April 21, 2006 updated by: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

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.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment

216

Phase

  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Kansas
      • Lawrence, Kansas, United States, 66044
        • Lawrence Public Schools USD 497
    • Texas
      • Pflugerville, Texas, United States, 78660
        • Pflugerville Independent School District

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

6 years to 9 years (CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • age 6 to 9 years
  • score between 75 and 125 on the Matrices subtest of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test
  • Speaking Quotient of 79 or lower on the Test of Language Development: Primary: 3rd Edition

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Previous participation in 8 or more hours of language intervention or classroom activities using any of the Fast ForWord, Laureate, or Earobics speech-language or reading software and/or the Lindamood-Bell auditory discrimination training
  • Failure of a hearing screening test
  • An episode of otitis media in the previous 12 months
  • Evidence of focal brain lesion, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, or seizure disorder
  • Abnormality of oral structure or function impeding normal language production

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: SINGLE

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ronald Gillam, PhD, Pflugerville Independent School District

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 2002

Study Completion

January 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 8, 2002

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 8, 2002

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

April 9, 2002

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

April 24, 2006

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 21, 2006

Last Verified

April 1, 2006

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • U01DC004560 (NIH)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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