Retrieval-Based Word Learning in Specific Language Impairment

特殊语言障碍儿童（SLI）在语言方面存在显著缺陷 这种能力是长期存在的，对孩子的学业、社会和最终的 经济福祉。单词学习是这些孩子的主要弱点之一。这 该项目的重点是四，五岁的儿童与SLI在一个单词学习能力， 努力了解这些困难的性质。该项目的目标是确定 当这些孩子必须经常回忆起新引入的 在学习过程中的话语。本申请中报告的初步研究表明， 这种“重复提取”活动可以应用于这个年龄段的儿童， 戏剧性的单词学习收益。计划中的研究试图确定是否重复检索 即使在面对新的风险较少的情况下， 词，以及是否努力程度检索新词是一个显着的因素， 孩子的成功。将获得对这一过程的好处的更深入的理解 通过使用眼睛注视和神经测量儿童的单词学习， 沿着更常规的测量，例如图片命名和图片识别。的 特别感兴趣的是，重复的检索活动是否缩小了 与其他单词学习程序相关的SLI儿童及其典型发育同龄人。 如果计划中的研究显示出比当前方法更大的单词学习收益， 活动可以作为开发儿童治疗新方法的基础 有单词学习困难

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) experience a significant deficit in language ability that is longstanding and harmful to the children's academic, social, and eventual economic well-being. 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 SLI in an effort to understand the nature of these difficulties. The goal of the project is to determine whether special benefits accrue when these children must frequently recall newly introduced words during the course of learning. Preliminary studies reported in this application suggest that such “repeated retrieval” activities can be applied to children of this age and might produce dramatic word learning gains. The planned studies seek to determine whether repeated retrieval produces larger gains than current procedures even in the face of less exposure to the new words, and whether the degree of effort in retrieving new words is a significant factor in the children's success. A deeper understanding of the benefits of this process will be obtained through the use of both eye gaze and neural measurements of the children's word learning, along with more conventional measures such as picture naming and picture identification. Of special interest will be whether repeated retrieval activities narrow the differences between children with SLI and their typically developing peers relative to other word learning procedures. If the planned studies reveal larger word learning gains than current methods, repeated retrieval activities can serve as the basis for the development of new methods of treatment for children with word learning difficulties.