Developmental Language Disorder, Reading; Difficult
Conditions
Keywords
Randomized Control Trial, Print Knowledge, Reading Outcomes, literacy, behavior-change strategies, early literacy
Brief summary
The goal of this study is to examine the impact of a caregiver-implemented shared reading program, Sit Together and Read (STAR), on children ages 4 to 5 with developmental language disorder. The main questions it aims to answer are: * how much STAR impacts children's literacy skills in the short-term and long-term--up to two-years after completing STAR. * how do caregiver supports in the form of small monetary rewards or encouraging texts help caregivers to implement STAR at its intended frequency of sessions per week. Caregiver participants will be assigned to either a control group or one of three STAR groups. Children's skills related to literacy and learning will be assessed before the intervention starts, at the end of the intervention, and every six months post-intervention for two years. Researchers will determine the short term and long term impacts of STAR compared to the control group. Researchers will compare the three STAR conditions to see if the rewards or encouragement helped parents to follow through with completing more STAR sessions.
Interventions
Sit Together and Read (STAR) features an explicit, systematic sequence of 15 objectives that target four dimensions of print knowledge: print organization, print meaning, letters, and words. These objectives are explicitly targeted in the context of repeated adult-child shared reading sessions and are systematically cycled over an intervention period so the child has repeated opportunities for acquiring the targeted print objectives. STAR is a manualized 15-week intervention.
BEHAVIORALMonetary Reward
Caregiver receives a monetary reward of $0.50 for each session logged (up to 60 sessions) and audio-recording completed (up to 15 audio recordings).
BEHAVIORALText Encouragement
Caregiver receives three tailored encouraging text messages specific to each week of the Sit Together and Read intervention.
Sponsors
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Ohio State University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
48 Months to 71 Months
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* receiving or on waitlist for speech services * primary complaint of impaired language skills * receptive, expressive, or mixed language disorder * primarily communicates in English
Exclusion criteria
1. No known additional diagnoses causal of developmental language disorder including 1. autism spectrum disorder 2. hearing loss 3. severe intellectual disability 2. Is not attending or has completed Kindergarten
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Reading House (THR) | Pretest before intervention and post-test immediately following intervention | A direct screening tool developed for use with pediatricians that allows a variety of providers to identify children who may be at risk for reading difficulties. It is a direct, book-based screener grounded in the concept of emergent literacy. TRH assessment examines 1) print knowledge, 2) alphabet knowledge, 3) letter-sound knowledge, 4) phonological awareness, 5) vocabulary, and 6) emergent writing. |
| Preschool Word and Print Awareness (PWPA) | Pretest before intervention and post-test immediately following intervention | Standardized criterion-referenced measure of children's knowledge of 15 basic print concepts |
| Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS): Alphabet Knowledge and Name Writing | Pretest before intervention and post-test immediately following intervention | PALS-Preschool is a scientifically-based phonological awareness and literacy screening and progress measure that assesses preschoolers' developing knowledge of important literacy fundamentals. The assessment reflects skills that are predictive of future reading success. We administer two subtests that measures name writing ability and upper-case and lower-case alphabet recognition. |
| Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement- IV (WJ-IV): Word Attack and Letter-Word Identification | Completed at all assessing timepoints. Pretest, immediate post-test, 6 month follow-up, 12 month follow-up, 18 month follow-up, 24 month follow up. | We administer two subtests of the norm referenced, standardized WJ-IV, Word Attack and Letter-Word Identification. Measure of child literacy and reading skill. We will explore avenues for data reduction, including use of a latent-variable modeling strategy. |
| Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement- IV (WJ-IV): Spelling, Passage Comprehension | 6 month follow-up, 12 month follow-up, 18 month follow-up, 24 month follow up. | We administer two subtests of the norm referenced, standardized WJ-IV, Spelling and Passage Comprehension. Measure of child literacy and reading skill |
Countries
United States
Contacts
Primary ContactJennifer M Bostic, MA
Backup ContactLaura M Justice, PhD
Outcome results
None listed