Retrieval-based Word Learning in Developmental Language Disorder: Adaptive Retrieval Schedule

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD; also referred to as specific language impairment) experience a significant deficit in language ability that is longstanding and harmful to the children's academic, social, and eventual economic wellbeing. 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 DLD. 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. In the current study, the investigators compare a "standard" repeated spaced retrieval schedule, with fixed spacing between hearing a word and attempting to retrieve it, to an "adaptive" repeated spaced retrieval schedule in which opportunities to retrieve a given word are tailored to the individual child's current knowledge state. The goal of the study is to determine whether the adaptive schedule can increase children's absolute levels of learning while maintaining the advantages of repeated spaced retrieval.

NCT Number	NCT06995014
Lead Sponsor	Purdue University Collaborators: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Conditions	Developmental Language Disorder, Specific Language Impairment, Language Development
Enrollment	32 participants
Start Date	2024-08-15
Primary Completion	2025-12-31 (estimated)
Study Completion	2025-12-31 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-06-03