The Effect of Semantic Support on Word Learning

July 9, 2026 updated by: University of Arizona

Identification of Treatment Parameters That Maximize Language Treatment Efficacy For Children

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare word learning outcomes in late talking toddlers who are taught different types of words. The main question it aims to answer is if teaching words that come from categories that children already know (e.g., animals) will aid overall word learning. Children will take part in the Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers (VAULT) word learning treatment and be taught words from more familiar or less familiar categories to see which group learns more words overall.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Children will be assigned to either the familiar or less-familiar word group. All children will receive 8 weeks of Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers (VAULT) word learning treatment (2x/wk for 30 minutes each session). The investigators will measure how well children learn the words they are taught as well as the words that are in the environment, but not explicitly taught (control words). This will help us know if their learning is due to treatment or maturation. The investigators will compare children to themselves (taught words v. control words) to ensure that the overall treatment is working. Then, the investigators will compare children in the familiar word group to children in the less-familiar word group to see which group learns more overall.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

32

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Arizona
      • Tucson, Arizona, United States, 85721
        • Recruiting
        • University of Arizona
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Mary Alt, PhD

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

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Native English Speaking
  • Pass pure tone hearing screening or medical report of normal hearing
  • 2-3 Years of age
  • MCDI expressive scale <10th percentile

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Parental report of other diagnoses
  • Enrolled in concurrent treatment elsewhere
  • Nonverbal IQ <75 as measured by the Bayley scales
  • Parents unable to consistently bring child to treatment sessions

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 Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Familiar Words
In this condition, children will learn new words that come from semantic categories (e.g., animals, body parts) from which they currently understand at least several words.
Behavioral: VAULT Phase 5
This is an input-based vocabulary learning treatment based on principles of statistical learning.
Active Comparator: Less-Familiar Words
In this condition, children will learn new words that come from semantic categories (e.g., animals, body parts) from which they currently understand few or no words.
Behavioral: VAULT Phase 5
This is an input-based vocabulary learning treatment based on principles of statistical learning.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Treatment Effect Size
Time Frame: Change from baseline through treatment, which will average an 8-week time frame.
The investigators will count the number of spontaneous and probed productions of target and control words and calculate a treatment effect size (d).
Change from baseline through treatment, which will average an 8-week time frame.
Number/Rate of Words Learned
Time Frame: Change from Initial Evaluation through Follow-up, which will average a 6-month time frame.
The investigators will measure the number of words learned and rate of words learned as reported by the parent on the MCDI starting prior to treatment, and measured during, immediately following, and 4-6 weeks after treatment.
Change from Initial Evaluation through Follow-up, which will average a 6-month time frame.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Post Treatment Retention
Time Frame: Change from end of treatment to follow up, which will average 4-6 weeks.
The investigators will use probe data and parental report to determine how many words the child retained from treatment.
Change from end of treatment to follow up, which will average 4-6 weeks.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Arizona

Collaborators

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Mary Alt, PhD, University of Arizona

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 (Actual)

June 10, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 14, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 26, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

June 27, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 9, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Late Talker Phase 5
  • 2R01DC015642-06 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

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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