Improving Language and Literacy Outcomes for Kindergarten Children with Language Impairment:A Behavior Regulation Intervention

改善有语言障碍的幼儿园儿童的语言和读写能力结果：行为调节干预

• 批准号: 9171118
• 负责人: Mary Beth Schmitt
• 金额: $ 7.65万
• 依托单位: TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIS CENTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9171118
• 关键词: Address; Attention; Behavior; Child; Child Behavior; Child Language; Control Groups; Data; Development; Diagnosis; Educational Curriculum; Effectiveness; Failure; Goals; Informal Social Control; Instruction; Intervention; Intervention Studies; Intervention Trial; Language; Language Therapy; Link; Literature; Measures; Mediation; Memory; Methods; Motor Activity; Outcome; Outcome Study; Population; Pre-Post Tests; Randomized; Reading Disabilities; Regulation; Reporting; Research; Research Personnel; Risk; Sampling; Schools; Secondary to; System; Testing; Time; Work; abstracting; college; design; directed attention; effective intervention; evidence base; expectation; experience; fourth grade; improved; improved outcome; innovation; kindergarten; language impairment; literacy; memory recall; motor learning; peer; programs; second grade; skills; success; therapy design; treatment group; young adult

Project Summary/Abstract The primary aim of this study is to determine the feasibility of an intervention for improving the behavior regulation skills of kindergarten children with language impairment (LI). Behavior regulation refers to a child's ability to attend to a task or activity, remember the rules and directions of that task, and inhibit their preferred actions or desires in favor of the expectations for the current task. This topic is significant as children with LI tend to have weaker behavior regulation skills than their typically-developing peers, and strong behavior regulation skills have been linked to improved language and literacy outcomes. As reported in a sparse corpus of intervention studies, researchers have identified behavior regulation as a malleable construct and that children who receive behavior regulation interventions show gains not only in their behavior regulation abilities, but also in their language and literacy outcomes. However, these studies addressed behavior regulation for typically-developing and at-risk children alone and were embedded within the regular classroom curriculum, making it difficult to isolate the unique contribution of behavior regulation on outcomes for children with LI. Therefore, the proposed study has the primary aim of assessing the feasibility of a behavior regulation for kindergarten children with LI and improves upon the existing intervention literature by 1) conducting the intervention in a pull-out setting rather than in a classroom curriculum, 2) utilizing a clinically-identified sample of kindergarten children with LI currently receiving language therapy in the public schools, and 3) utilizing an innovative battery of assessment measures across study constructs to fully capture change in children’s skills. Two research aims are addressed in the current study: 1) Evaluate the feasibility of a behavior regulation intervention which promotes the attention, memory, and inhibitory control of kindergarten children with LI, and 2) Evaluate the mediation and moderation effects of improved attention, memory, and inhibitory control on the language and literacy outcomes of kindergarten children with LI receiving language therapy in the public schools. A pre-test/post-test design will be used in which kindergarten children with LI (N = 72) will be randomly assigned to a treatment group (behavior regulation intervention) or a control group (fine motor learning). The treatment group will engage in two, 30- minute sessions each week for 8 consecutive weeks. During these sessions, children will receive explicit instruction in attention, memory, and inhibitory control in the context of child-appropriate games and activities (e.g., Simon Says). Children in the control group will also engage in two, 30-minute sessions each week for 8 consecutive weeks; however, their time will be spent in fine motor activities (e.g., tracing, lacing) not related to the outcomes of the study. Children's behavior regulation, language, and literacy will be assessed prior to and following intervention to determine the feasibility of this intervention at improving children's direct (attention, memory, inhibitory control) and indirect (language and literacy) outcomes.

项目总结/文摘