Vocabulary Intervention for Late Talkers
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Shape Bias Training as a Vocabulary Intervention for Late Talkers
IRAS ID
237895
Contact name
Andrea Krott
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 3 months, 1 days
Research summary
Most studies regarding word learning have focused on understanding when and how infants learn words. At 24 months, typically developing infants know between 200 and 300 words and add new words to their vocabularies at a rapid rate. It is also during the first years of life that some principles that promote vocabulary learning are developed. The shape bias, which is a tendency to infer that objects that share the same shape will also share the same name, is the one that has been studied the most. At 24 months, typically developing infants use this principle as a strategy to learn novel words. In contrast, Late Talkers (children with a language delay in the absence of a physiological, cognitive or genetic disorder that may account for this delay) do not exhibit this preference. It has been found that teaching typically developing infants a shape bias prior to the end of the second year of life can boosts their word learning. Despite this, the possibility of teaching Late Talkers this principle and its effect on their vocabulary and language development has not been explored.
Over a series of 9 weekly sessions, Late Talkers (diagnosed by Speech and Language Therapists from the Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) will be introduced to one of two possible interventions: a shape bias intervention and a more conventional intervention called “specific word intervention”. Both interventions will be compared after 9 weeks. One year later, a follow up study will be conducted to assess the long-term effects each intervention has in word learning. Participants will be referred by a Speech and Language Therapists from the Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and all assessments and interventions will take place at the Infant and Child Lab at the University of Birmingham.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/WM/0060
Date of REC Opinion
11 Apr 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion