Effects of Fast ForWord on Language Processing

描述(申请人提供)：尽管他们在非语言智力测试中表现正常，但有特殊语言障碍(SLI)的儿童在语义、语法和/或叙述性语言技能的发展方面存在严重问题。直到最近，针对这些已知有效的领域的干预措施一直基于这样的原则，即更有效的学习取决于改变孩子听到的语言或直接教授新技能。相比之下，快进语言(FFW-L)旨在通过从根本上重组儿童的中枢听觉神经系统来提高学习者处理听觉和听觉-言语信号的能力。拟议调查背后的广泛目标反映了研究人员对开发和测试干预措施或干预序列的兴趣，这些干预措施不仅改变了SLI儿童的语言表现，而且从根本上改变了他们从所接触的输入中学习新语言的能力。该项目的具体目的是：(A)考察FFW-L对儿童对基于叙事的传统语言干预的反应的影响；(B)比较FFW-L和强度较低的传统NBLI的神经生理学影响；以及(C)比较FFW-L和NBLI(单独和联合)对基于更自然的语言活动的措施的影响。这些目标将通过检查已完成和未完成FFW-L的儿童的NBLI前和NBLI后分数来实现。如果FFW-L在语言学习潜力方面有预期的效果，那么在NBLI之前接受FFW-L的儿童应该比没有参加FFW-L的儿童表现出学习优势。一系列语言测量将由全头脑磁图(MEG)和高密度脑电图仪(EEC)相结合。这些技术将提供干预前后大脑对简单和复杂听觉刺激的反应的详细时空分布。调查的结果将包括：(A)更好地了解L FFW对语言学习能力的影响；(B)更全面地了解系统性红斑狼疮的神经生物学知识和大脑对语言干预的反应；以及(C)在全功率临床试验中计划和实施涉及FFW-L和其他传统干预措施序列测试所需的证据。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although they perform normally on tests of nonverbal intelligence, children with specific language impairment (SLI) have significant problems in the development of semantic, grammatical, and/or narrative language skills. Until recently, interventions addressing these areas that are known to be efficacious have been based on the principle that more efficient learning depends on changing the language the child hears or by teaching new skills directly. In contrast, Fast ForWord Language (FFW-L) is designed to improve the learner's ability to process auditory and auditory-verbal signals by fundamentally reorganizing the child's central auditory nervous system. The broad objectives underlying the proposed investigation reflect the investigators' interest in developing and testing interventions, or sequences of interventions, that not only change the language performance of children with SLI, but fundamentally change their ability to learn new language from the input to which they are exposed. The specific aims of the project are (a) to examine the effects of FFW-L on children's responses to a conventional Narrative Based Language Intervention (NBLI); (b) to compare the neurophysiologic effects of FFW-L with those of the less intensive, conventional NBLI; and (c) to compare the effects of FFW-L and those of NBLI (alone and in combination) on measures based on more naturalistic language activities. These aims will be accomplished by examining the pre-NBLI and post-NBLI scores for children who have completed and those who have not completed FFW-L. If FFW-L has the desired effects on language learning potential, children who receive it prior to NBLI should demonstrate learning advantages over children who have not participated in FFW-L. A battery of language measures will be supplemented by whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) combined with high-density electroencephalography (EEC). These techniques will provide a detailed spatio-temporal profile of the brain's response to simple and complex auditory stimuli before and after intervention. The outcomes of the investigation will include (a) a better understanding of the effects of FFW-L on language learning abilities; (b) more comprehensive knowledge of the neurobiology of SLI and the brain's response to language intervention; and (c) the evidence necessary to plan and implement tests of sequences of interventions involving FFW-L and other conventional interventions in fully-powered clinical trials.