Retrieval-Based Word Learning in Developmental Language Disorder: Verb Learning

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD; also referred to as specific language impairment) experience a significant deficit in language ability that is longstanding and harmful to the children's academic, social, and eventual economic wellbeing. Word learning is one of the principal weaknesses in these children. This project focuses on the word learning abilities of four- and five-year-old children with DLD. The goal of the project is to build on the investigators' previous work to determine whether, as has been found thus far, special benefits accrue when these children must frequently recall newly introduced words during the course of learning. The focus of the current study is verb-learning. The goal of the study is to increase children's absolute levels of verb learning while maintaining the advantage that repeated retrieval holds over comparison methods of learning.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Language Development; Developmental Language Disorder; Specific Language Impairment
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Retrieval-based verb learning: Repeated Spaced Retrieval condition; Behavioral: Retrieval-based verb learning: Repeated Study condition

Detailed Description

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) affects language learning in an estimated 7% of children. Although much of the research literature has emphasized difficulties learning grammar, children with DLD also have major deficits in vocabulary. In recent work, the investigators have been examining the benefit of retrieval practice to enhance word learning and retention in preschoolers with DLD. The rationale behind this work is grounded in the growing literature in the field of cognitive psychology which shows that repeated practice in retrieving information results in greater long-term retention than continuous study of that information without opportunities for retrieval. In addition, retrieval practice that occurs after a delay-or "spacing" between study of a word and subsequent recall attempts-can lead to stronger effects.

The investigators have explored the benefits of retrieval practice for preschoolers with DLD and with typical language development (TD), showing that recall and retention for novel words (nouns, adjectives, verbs) were greater when learned using repeated spaced retrieval (RSR) than when learned using repeated study only. Despite benefitting from RSR, children with DLD still showed lower levels of recall than children with TD, in particular in novel verb learning.

In the current study, the investigators seek to improve the absolute levels of word form recall for verbs by modifying the method used previously. Sixteen children with DLD will be recruited for this study along with 16 children with TD matched on chronological age. Using a within-subjects design, children will learn eight novel verbs, four at a time. Each set of four will be learned over two consecutive days, with two words in the RSR condition and two words in a repeated study condition. The referents for these novel words will be video-recorded transitive actions performed by actors on objects and presented on a laptop screen.

In the RSR condition, children will initially hear the word paired with a video of a novel action, immediately be asked to recall the word, and then see/hear it again. After three other words are presented, they will be asked to recall the original word again; this "3" spaced retrieval schedule will continue for the rest of the learning session. In the comparison condition, children will simply hear the words paired with a video of the novel action. In this study, during retrieval practice, children will be prompted to respond with a full sentence containing the verb.

Recall of the verbs will be tested after the learning session on the second day and one week later. At one week, children will also complete a syntactic generalization test in which they are prompted to use the novel verb in a type of sentence that is different from the one used during learning. Finally, children will complete a two-alternative recognition test.

The investigators hypothesize that novel verbs that undergo RSR during the learning period will be learned and recalled better than comparable novel verbs that are assigned to the repeated study condition. This RSR advantage will continue to be observed when the children must use the novel verbs with new actors and objects and will be seen as well in the syntactic generalization test when the children must use the novel verbs in a new sentence frame. Introducing novel verbs representing actions that can be performed on varying objects is expected to improve overall learning. In addition, by having the child produce the verbs in the context of a full sentence, the newly learned verbs should become more integrated with other sentence elements (subjects and direct objects), resulting in a richer representation in memory and consequently, greater recall, recognition, and syntactic flexibility than was observed in the previous novel verb study.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 31
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Indiana
    • West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, 47907
      • Purdue University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• a significant deficit in language ability (language test score below cutoff for best sensitivity/specificity) or documented age-appropriate language ability.

normal hearing no evidence of neurological damage or disease scores on tests of nonverbal intelligence above the intellectual disability range not within Autistic range on Autism screening test native English speaker (can be bilingual)

Exclusion Criteria:

• failed hearing screening known neurological damage or disease scores on tests of nonverbal intelligence below the intellectual disability range (standard score less than 75) autism spectrum disorder non-native English speaker

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Children with Developmental Language Disorder; These children have a significant delay in language development in the absence of hearing impairment, cognitive delay, autism, or neurological injury/disease.	Behavioral: Retrieval-based verb learning: Repeated Spaced Retrieval condition; A set of novel verbs are practiced on 2 consecutive days (the same verbs are used each day). Half of the novel verbs are learned in the repeated spaced retrieval condition and half are learned in the repeated study condition, with the two conditions interleaved on each day. The repeated spaced retrieval condition consists of study and retrieval trials. At the start of the sessions, retrieval trials immediately follow study trials. Thereafter, retrieval trials are spaced for each verb, occurring after 3 other words have intervened between the retrieval trial and the last study trial for that verb.; Behavioral: Retrieval-based verb learning: Repeated Study condition; A set of novel verbs are practiced on 2 consecutive days (the same verbs are used each day). Half of the novel verbs are learned in the repeated spaced retrieval condition and half are learned in the repeated study condition, with the two conditions interleaved on each day. The repeated study condition consists of study trials only (with no retrieval practice).
Experimental: Children with typical language development; Children whose language development is as expected for their age.	Behavioral: Retrieval-based verb learning: Repeated Spaced Retrieval condition; A set of novel verbs are practiced on 2 consecutive days (the same verbs are used each day). Half of the novel verbs are learned in the repeated spaced retrieval condition and half are learned in the repeated study condition, with the two conditions interleaved on each day. The repeated spaced retrieval condition consists of study and retrieval trials. At the start of the sessions, retrieval trials immediately follow study trials. Thereafter, retrieval trials are spaced for each verb, occurring after 3 other words have intervened between the retrieval trial and the last study trial for that verb.; Behavioral: Retrieval-based verb learning: Repeated Study condition; A set of novel verbs are practiced on 2 consecutive days (the same verbs are used each day). Half of the novel verbs are learned in the repeated spaced retrieval condition and half are learned in the repeated study condition, with the two conditions interleaved on each day. The repeated study condition consists of study trials only (with no retrieval practice).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 5 Mins. for Learned Items	Five minutes after second learning session, child is asked to recall and say the word associated with each novel action learned under each of the two conditions: a condition in which spaced retrieval trials occurred and one in which there were no retrieval trials. For Learned items, each of the four verbs was tested with videos of two of the agent-object pairs the child had seen during the learning period, for a total of 8 recall items. Children were prompted to retrieve/produce the novel verbs in the sentence structure used during learning.	5 minutes after end of Day 2 (second day) learning period.
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 5 Mins. for Generalized Items	Five minutes after second learning session, child is asked to recall and say the word associated with each novel action learned under one of two conditions: a condition in which spaced retrieval trials occurred and one in which there were no retrieval trials. For Generalized items each of the four verbs was tested with videos of two agent-object pairs that were new (that the child had not seen during the learning period), for a total of 8 recall items. Children were prompted to retrieve/produce the novel verbs in the sentence structure used during learning.	5 minutes after end of Day 2 (second day) learning period.
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 1 Week for Learned Items.	One week after second learning session, child is asked to recall and say the word associated with each novel action learned under one of two conditions: a condition in which spaced retrieval trials occurred and one in which there were no retrieval trials. For Learned items, each of the four verbs was tested with videos of two of the agent-object pairs the child had seen during the learning period, for a total of 8 recall items. Children were prompted to retrieve/produce the novel verbs in the sentence structure used during learning.	1 week after Day 2 (second day) learning period.
Verb Recall Accuracy (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions at 1 Week for Generalized Items	One week after second learning session, child is asked to recall and say the word associated with each novel action learned under one of two conditions: a condition in which spaced retrieval trials occurred and one in which there were no retrieval trials. For Generalized items, each of the four verbs was tested with videos of two agent-object pairs that were new (that the child had not seen during the learning period), for a total of 8 recall items. Children were prompted to retrieve/produce the novel verbs in the sentence structure used during learning.	1 week after Day 2 (second day) learning period.
Accuracy of Verb Recall (Number of Verbs Correctly Recalled) in a New Structure in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions	Child is asked to describe the video of a novel action using the novel verb in a frame different from the one learned (i.e.,"X likes to VERB the Y") in repeated spaced retrieval and repeated study conditions. Each verb is tested with four items: three items made use of videos of agent-object pairs the child had seen during the learning period and one item used an agent-object pair that was new. There were eight items total per condition.	1 week after Day 2 (second day) learning period.
Verb Recognition (Number of Words Accurately Identified) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions for Learned Items.	One week after the learning session, child is asked to indicate (by pointing) which of 2 video options is referred to upon hearing a sentence using a novel word learned in either the repeated spaced retrieval or repeated study condition. Each verb is tested with two items which used videos of agent-object pairs that the child had seen during the learning period, for a total of eight items.	1 week after Day 2 (second day) learning period.
Verb Recognition (Number of Words Accurately Identified) in Repeated Spaced Retrieval (RSR) and Repeated Study (RS) Conditions for Generalized Items.	One week after the learning session, child is asked to indicate (by pointing) which of 2 video options is referred to upon hearing a sentence using a novel word learned in either the repeated spaced retrieval or repeated study condition. Each verb is tested with two items which used videos of agent-object pairs that were new (that the child had not seen during the learning period), for a total of eight items.	1 week after Day 2 (second day) learning period.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fifth Edition	The Peabody Picture Vocabulary is an individually administered, norm-reference test that assesses receptive vocabulary (ability to understand individual words) for children and adults ages 2 years 6 months to 90 years and older. Standard scores are derived from number correct. Standard scores can range from a minimum of 40 and 160. Standard scores between 85 and 115 (1 standard deviation above and below the mean of 100) are interpreted as reflecting receptive vocabulary levels expected for age. Scores below 85 are interpreted as reflecting receptive vocabulary levels below what is expected for age.Scores above 115 are interpreted as reflecting receptive vocabulary levels above what is expected for age.	Test completed at start of study
Maternal Education in Years	Educational attainment of child's mother in terms of years of education	information collected at start of study

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Purdue University
• Collaborators: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Laurence B. Leonard, PhD, Purdue Universtiy

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 25, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): January 25, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 3, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 16, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): August 21, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 13, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 25, 2025
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: word retrieval; preschool-aged children; word learning
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Communication Disorders; Learning Disabilities; Specific Language Disorder; Language Disorders; Language Development Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1603017480B; R01DC014708 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Data that contribute to our final published results will be made available at www.clinicaltrials.gov.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will become available after the results are published or within 12 months from the primary completion date (i.e., the date of final data collection for the primary outcome measure).
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: De-identified data will be made publicly available at www.clinicaltrials.gov
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

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