Dynamic Assessment of the Risk for Language and Reading Disorders in Monolingual and Multilingual Children

Validation of Computerized Dynamic Assessment Tasks to Identify the Risk of Developmental Language Disorders (DLD) and Specific Reading Disorder (SRD) in Monolingual and Multilingual Children

The project represents the completion of a part of the recently concluded European project MultiMind, in which a computer platform called MuLiMi was developed and validated. The platform hosts screening tests for the identification of the risk of Language and Learning Disorders in preschool and primary school children, respectively. The aim is to validate the Dynamic Assessment (DA) tests (a first test assessing the capacity to learn new words for preschool children and a second one assessing the capacity to learn a new spelling code for school-age children) in a population of monolingual and bilingual children attending preschool and primary school. The main goal of the study is to complete the validation of the two Dynamic Assessment tests implemented in the MuLiMi platform developed for the MultiMind project.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Developmental Dyslexia; Developmental Language Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: computerized Dynamic Assessment

Detailed Description

Dynamic Assessment tests are characterized by their emphasis on the learning process activated during the test itself, focusing on measuring the improvement achieved from the beginning to the end of the test rather than the absolute level of performance. They are thus considered measures of the learning potential (in this case, language and spelling) of the assessed subject. This type of testing is used as an integration of static assessment (traditional, aimed at detecting absolute performance level) and has proven particularly useful in the assessment of multilingual children.

However, computerized tests that can also be used remotely are not currently available. For these reasons, it was found particularly useful to include this type of task within the MuLiMi computerized battery. While the other tests hosted on the MuLiMi platform concern specific L1-L2 pairs, DA tests can be applied regardless of the L1 (provided a minimum L2 mastery is present so as to understand the requests) because they assess the capacity to learn new information and are thus rather independent of previous knowledge. This study will provide baseline data for the MuLiMi battery applied to children belonging to any language minority group and thus enable it to be used comprehensively in the future for the purpose of risk assessment of language and learning disorders.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 150
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Maria Luisa Lorusso, Ph.D; Phone Number: 031-877592; Email: marialuisa.lorusso@lanostrafamiglia.it

Study Locations

• Italy
  • LC
    • Bosisio Parini, LC, Italy, 23842
      • Recruiting
      • IRCCS E. Medea, polo di Bosisio Parini
      • Contact: Maria Luisa Lorusso, Ph.D; Phone Number: 031-877592; Email: marialuisa.lorusso@lanostrafamiglia.it

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• age 4-6 years (Kindergarten) or 7-9 years (Primary school);
• Attendance at an Italian-language school in Italy or Switzerland/Germany.

Additional inclusion criteria for the multilingual group only:

• (i) At least one parent speaks at least one language other than Italian in the family;
• (ii) Continuous exposure to the Italian language for at least two years.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Intellectual disability, major psychopathological disorders, exposure to Italian language for less than two years.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Screening
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

8

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: TD preschooler, monolingual; This group will include monolingual children who have not been referred to clinical or educational services for any delay or disorder in language abilities. They will be tested with the MuLiMi battery (lexical, phonological and morphosyntactic tests), including the DA Novel Word Learning Test (NWLT) as DA screening test. Furthermore, they will be assessed with standardized language tests providing benchmark measures for validation.	Diagnostic test: computerized Dynamic Assessment; The DA tests (with a duration of about 30 minutes) can be administered by accessing the digital platform MuLiMi, individually with the experimenter or examiner. The tests are in game form and require children to learn the names of characters presented in the context of stories (preschool version) or to learn new codes for reading and writing (primary school version). In both cases, the new materials (names or codes) are repeatedly presented to the child until (s)he reaches an accuracy threshold. The number of repetitions needed to reach the threshold constitutes the main measure of the child's learning capacity, together with the number of errors committed during the various cycles.; Other Names: MuLiMi Dynamic Assessment tools
Active Comparator: TD preschooler, multilingual; This group will include multilingual children who have not been referred to clinical or educational services for any delay or disorder in language abilities. They will be tested with the MuLiMi battery (lexical, phonological and morphosyntactic tests), including the DA Novel Word Learning Test (NWLT) as DA screening test. Furthermore, they will be assessed with standardized language tests providing benchmark measures for validation.	Diagnostic test: computerized Dynamic Assessment; The DA tests (with a duration of about 30 minutes) can be administered by accessing the digital platform MuLiMi, individually with the experimenter or examiner. The tests are in game form and require children to learn the names of characters presented in the context of stories (preschool version) or to learn new codes for reading and writing (primary school version). In both cases, the new materials (names or codes) are repeatedly presented to the child until (s)he reaches an accuracy threshold. The number of repetitions needed to reach the threshold constitutes the main measure of the child's learning capacity, together with the number of errors committed during the various cycles.; Other Names: MuLiMi Dynamic Assessment tools
Experimental: DLD preschooler, monolingual; This group will include monolingual children who have been referred to clinical or educational services because of delays or disorders in language abilities. They will be tested with the MuLiMi battery (lexical, phonological and morphosyntactic tests), including the DA Novel Word Learning Test (NWLT) as DA screening test. Furthermore, they will be assessed with standardized language tests providing benchmark measures for validation.	Diagnostic test: computerized Dynamic Assessment; The DA tests (with a duration of about 30 minutes) can be administered by accessing the digital platform MuLiMi, individually with the experimenter or examiner. The tests are in game form and require children to learn the names of characters presented in the context of stories (preschool version) or to learn new codes for reading and writing (primary school version). In both cases, the new materials (names or codes) are repeatedly presented to the child until (s)he reaches an accuracy threshold. The number of repetitions needed to reach the threshold constitutes the main measure of the child's learning capacity, together with the number of errors committed during the various cycles.; Other Names: MuLiMi Dynamic Assessment tools
Experimental: DLD preschooler, multilingual; This group will include multilingual children who have been referred to clinical or educational services because of delays or disorders in language abilities. They will be tested with the MuLiMi battery (lexical, phonological and morphosyntactic tests), including the DA Novel Word Learning Test (NWLT) as DA screening test. Furthermore, they will be assessed with standardized language tests providing benchmark measures for validation.	Diagnostic test: computerized Dynamic Assessment; The DA tests (with a duration of about 30 minutes) can be administered by accessing the digital platform MuLiMi, individually with the experimenter or examiner. The tests are in game form and require children to learn the names of characters presented in the context of stories (preschool version) or to learn new codes for reading and writing (primary school version). In both cases, the new materials (names or codes) are repeatedly presented to the child until (s)he reaches an accuracy threshold. The number of repetitions needed to reach the threshold constitutes the main measure of the child's learning capacity, together with the number of errors committed during the various cycles.; Other Names: MuLiMi Dynamic Assessment tools
Active Comparator: TD school-age, monolingual; This group will include monolingual children who have not been referred to clinical or educational services for any delay or disorder in language abilities. They will be tested with the MuLiMi battery (reading, orthographic and metaphonological tests), including the Dynamic Reading Assessment (DRA) as DA screening test. Furthermore, they will be assessed with standardized reading and language tests providing benchmark measures for validation.	Diagnostic test: computerized Dynamic Assessment; The DA tests (with a duration of about 30 minutes) can be administered by accessing the digital platform MuLiMi, individually with the experimenter or examiner. The tests are in game form and require children to learn the names of characters presented in the context of stories (preschool version) or to learn new codes for reading and writing (primary school version). In both cases, the new materials (names or codes) are repeatedly presented to the child until (s)he reaches an accuracy threshold. The number of repetitions needed to reach the threshold constitutes the main measure of the child's learning capacity, together with the number of errors committed during the various cycles.; Other Names: MuLiMi Dynamic Assessment tools
Active Comparator: TD school-age, multilingual; This group will include monolingual children who have not been referred to clinical or educational services for any delay or disorder in language abilities. They will be tested with the MuLiMi battery (reading, orthographic and metaphonological tests), including the Dynamic Reading Assessment (DRA) as DA screening test. Furthermore, they will be assessed with standardized reading and language tests providing benchmark measures for validation.	Diagnostic test: computerized Dynamic Assessment; The DA tests (with a duration of about 30 minutes) can be administered by accessing the digital platform MuLiMi, individually with the experimenter or examiner. The tests are in game form and require children to learn the names of characters presented in the context of stories (preschool version) or to learn new codes for reading and writing (primary school version). In both cases, the new materials (names or codes) are repeatedly presented to the child until (s)he reaches an accuracy threshold. The number of repetitions needed to reach the threshold constitutes the main measure of the child's learning capacity, together with the number of errors committed during the various cycles.; Other Names: MuLiMi Dynamic Assessment tools
Experimental: SRD school-age, monolingual; This group will include monolingual children who have been referred to clinical or educational services for any delay or disorder in language abilities. They will be tested with the MuLiMi battery (reading, orthographic and metaphonological tests), including the Dynamic Reading Assessment (DRA) as DA screening test. Furthermore, they will be assessed with standardized reading and language tests providing benchmark measures for validation.	Diagnostic test: computerized Dynamic Assessment; The DA tests (with a duration of about 30 minutes) can be administered by accessing the digital platform MuLiMi, individually with the experimenter or examiner. The tests are in game form and require children to learn the names of characters presented in the context of stories (preschool version) or to learn new codes for reading and writing (primary school version). In both cases, the new materials (names or codes) are repeatedly presented to the child until (s)he reaches an accuracy threshold. The number of repetitions needed to reach the threshold constitutes the main measure of the child's learning capacity, together with the number of errors committed during the various cycles.; Other Names: MuLiMi Dynamic Assessment tools
Experimental: SRD school-age, multilingual; This group will include multilingual children who have been referred to clinical or educational services for any delay or disorder in language abilities. They will be tested with the MuLiMi battery (reading, orthographic and metaphonological tests), including the Dynamic Reading Assessment (DRA) as DA screening test. Furthermore, they will be assessed with standardized reading and language tests providing benchmark measures for validation.	Diagnostic test: computerized Dynamic Assessment; The DA tests (with a duration of about 30 minutes) can be administered by accessing the digital platform MuLiMi, individually with the experimenter or examiner. The tests are in game form and require children to learn the names of characters presented in the context of stories (preschool version) or to learn new codes for reading and writing (primary school version). In both cases, the new materials (names or codes) are repeatedly presented to the child until (s)he reaches an accuracy threshold. The number of repetitions needed to reach the threshold constitutes the main measure of the child's learning capacity, together with the number of errors committed during the various cycles.; Other Names: MuLiMi Dynamic Assessment tools

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
accuracy during task performance	total number and % correct answers, number and % errors during task performance	one or two days (one or two consecutive sessions depending on participant's age, collaboration and fatigue)
efficiency during task performance	number of repeated cycles, number of cycles needed to reach target performance	Intervention occurs during assessment: assessment will last one or two days (one or two consecutive sessions depending on participant's age, collaboration and fatigue)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: IRCCS Eugenio Medea
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Maria Luisa Lorusso, Ph.D, IRCCS E. Medea

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• MacLeod AAN, Glaspey AM. Dynamic assessment of multilingual children's word learning. Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2022 Jul;57(4):822-851. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12723. Epub 2022 Apr 16.
• Orellana CI, Wada R, Gillam RB. The Use of Dynamic Assessment for the Diagnosis of Language Disorders in Bilingual Children: A Meta-Analysis. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2019 Aug 9;28(3):1298-1317. doi: 10.1044/2019_AJSLP-18-0202. Epub 2019 Jun 13.
• Hunt E, Nang C, Meldrum S, Armstrong E. Can Dynamic Assessment Identify Language Disorder in Multilingual Children? Clinical Applications From a Systematic Review. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2022 Apr 11;53(2):598-625. doi: 10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00094. Epub 2022 Mar 1.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 3, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 21, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 17, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): April 22, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 4, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 30, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: children; computerized assessment; Developmental Dyslexia; Developmental Language Disorder; Dynamic Assessment; multilingual population
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Specific Learning Disorder; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Communication Disorders; Learning Disabilities; Language Disorders; Dyslexia; Language Development Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1036

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