Strategies for Teaching Verbs

This study is designed to evaluate whether children with Down syndrome and children with typical development exhibit different levels of accuracy demonstrating novel verbs taught under three conditions: semantic cues (perform action), syntactic cues (sentence frame), and combined (syntactic and semantic cues). The participants complete an eligibility evaluation and then one verb learning session (approximately 60 minutes in length). During that verb learning session they are taught sets of words under each condition (i.e., within-subjects design) and then asked to identify and label those target words immediately after instruction.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Down Syndrome; Language Development Disorders; Child Language
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Semantic cues (perform action), syntactic cues (sentence frame), or combined semantic and syntactic cues

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 44
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Tennessee
    • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37232
      • Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 3 years to 17 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Must use oral communication as their primary means of communication
• Must be monolingual English speakers
• Behaviorally able to attend for 20 minutes
• Children with typical development must demonstrate no more than one standard deviation below the mean on the speech and language measures

Exclusion Criteria:

• Nonverbal cognitive score less than three standard deviations below the mean (standard score of 54 below)
• Identified hearing loss or failed hearing screening
• Uncorrected vision impairment
• Motor impairment that prevents completion of study activities
• Concomitant disorders (e.g., Autism spectrum disorder)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Verb strategies; The examiner labels each target word and performs the corresponding action six times in each condition. She elicits the target word from the participant two times per word per condition and provides feedback on accuracy each time. In the semantic cues condition, the examiner prompts the child to perform the target action twice. In the syntactic cues condition, instead of only saying the target word with the present progressive verb marker, the examiner uses two forms of complete sentences while performing the action (i.e., "I am X-ing," and "See. I X."). In the combined condition, the examiner prompts the child to perform the target action and consistently uses complete sentences.

Behavioral: Semantic cues (perform action), syntactic cues (sentence frame), or combined semantic and syntactic cues; Verb Learning Session Teaching phase. The examiner labels each target word and performs the action 6 times in each condition. She elicits the target word from the participant 2 times per word per condition and provides feedback on accuracy. Testing phase. Receptive probes are administered after every 2 words are taught. Expressive probes are at the end of the condition. For receptive probes, the examiner asks the participant to identify novel verbs and for expressive probes, the examiner asks the child to label the novel action. Testing after 2 items is designed to decrease memory load. Participants have a brief break between conditions. Data are collected on: a) child responses on standardized assessments, (b) responses to verb learning probes, (c) parent responses to intake form, and (d) relevant medical history from electronic medical record. None of the above procedures present more than minimal risk to participants or research staff. Vanderbilt IRB approved all procedures.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Accuracy Identifying Taught Words - Syntactic Condition	Participants are asked to receptively identify novel verbs taught in syntactic condition by selecting the video of the named verb from a field of two. Participants were asked to identify each of the 4 taught words per condition 3 times for a total of 12 trials per condition. This "receptive probe" has a minimum score of 0 and maximum of 12. Higher scores indicate a better outcome.	From date of initial evaluation to focused intervention session, up to 1 month
Accuracy Identifying Taught Words - Semantic Condition	Participants are asked to receptively identify novel verbs taught in semantic condition by selecting the video of the named verb from a field of two. Participants were asked to identify each of the 4 taught words per condition 3 times for a total of 12 trials per condition. This "receptive probe" has a minimum score of 0 and maximum of 12. Higher scores indicate a better outcome.	From date of initial evaluation to focused intervention session, up to 1 month
Accuracy Identifying Taught Words - Combined Condition	Participants are asked to receptively identify novel verbs taught in combined condition by selecting the video of the named verb from a field of two. Participants were asked to identify each of the 4 taught words per condition 3 times for a total of 12 trials per condition. This "receptive probe" has a minimum score of 0 and maximum of 12. Higher scores indicate a better outcome.	From date of initial evaluation to focused intervention session, up to 1 month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Accuracy Labeling Taught Words - Syntactic Condition	After the teaching episodes for the syntactic condition participants are asked to label novel verbs expressively. Participants were asked to label each of the 4 taught words per condition one time for a total of 4 trials per condition. This "expressive probe" has a minimum score of 0 and maximum of 4. Higher scores indicate a better outcome.	From date of initial evaluation to focused intervention session, up to 1 month
Accuracy Labeling Taught Words - Semantic Condition	After the teaching episodes for the semantic condition participants are asked to label novel verbs expressively. Participants were asked to label each of the 4 taught words per condition one time for a total of 4 trials per condition. This "expressive probe" has a minimum score of 0 and maximum of 4. Higher scores indicate a better outcome.	From date of initial evaluation to focused intervention session, up to 1 month
Accuracy Labeling Taught Words - Combined Condition	After the teaching episodes for the combined condition participants are asked to label novel verbs expressively. Participants were asked to label each of the 4 taught words per condition one time for a total of 4 trials per condition. This "expressive probe" has a minimum score of 0 and maximum of 4. Higher scores indicate a better outcome	From date of initial evaluation to focused intervention session, up to 1 month

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 21, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 2, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): July 2, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 8, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 14, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): February 22, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 7, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 27, 2023
• Last Verified: December 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Congenital Abnormalities; Genetic Diseases, Inborn; Intellectual Disability; Abnormalities, Multiple; Chromosome Disorders; Language Disorders; Communication Disorders; Down Syndrome; Language Development Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 172058

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No