Down Syndrome, Speech and Language Disorder, Speech Disorders in Children, Speech Intelligibility, Speech Sound Disorder
Conditions
Brief summary
The focus of this investigation is to compare the effectiveness of the AAC Generative Language Intervention approach to an AAC Standard of Care condition on preschool sentence productions. All children will use existing AAC iPad applications.
Detailed description
The central hypothesis is that preschoolers receiving AAC Generative Language Intervention will create longer, more grammatically complete sentences compared with the Standard of Care condition. Specific Aim 1 compares these interventions for preschoolers with severe speech impairments and typical receptive language, and Specific Aim 2 does the same for children with Down syndrome. Specific Aim 3 tests for possible moderation of the intervention effect by age, dynamic assessment scores, sentence type, receptive language abilities, prior AAC use, sex, mental age, and disability. Aims 1 and 2 will be accomplished using randomized controlled trials.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALAAC Generative Language Intervention
Parent/Caregiver AAC App Operational Training + Direct AAC Input-Output Language Intervention
BEHAVIORALStandard of Care / Business as Usual
Parent/Caregiver AAC App Operational Training
Sponsors
University of New Mexico
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
University of Central Florida
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
3 Years to 4 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Clinical Identification of Significant Speech Impairment * Must Speak English as a Primary Language * Must Be Able to Express At Least 25 Words (using any communication mode) * Must Be Able to Accurately Select Picture Symbols on iPad Communication App with at Least 50% Accuracy * Vision and Hearing within Functional Limits or Corrected to be within Functional Limits for Study Activities
Exclusion criteria
* Clinical Diagnosis of Autism or Social Communication Disorder * Primary Language Spoken is a Language Other than English
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Aided AAC Utterance Length | 6 Months | Aided AAC sentence length measured in morphemes |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed