The Children's Vocabulary Project
The Children's Vocabulary Project advances understanding of the word learning problems associated with developmental language disorder (DLD).
In previous years of the project, we learned that:
- Children with DLD have difficulty learning new words in "incidental" contexts where they hear the new word, but no direct instruction is provided. They do better when they are given direct instruction, but still not as well as their peers.
- Children with DLD have difficulty learning from text, whether they are listening or reading it themselves.
- At least in the early stages of learning a word, the form of the word—its sounds and the sequence of those sounds—tends to be harder for children with DLD to learn than what the word refers to.
- One way to improve word learning is to separate the word from the thing that it names. For example, we taught children with DLD and those with typical language development the names of aliens, and they learned the names (word forms) better if we said the name before or after we showed them the alien (what the word names/picture) than when we said the name and showed the alien at the same time.
- Another way to help children with DLD learn words is to have them practice retrieving and saying the word. Active practice (saying the word) is more useful than passive study (listening to the word).
In the current stage of the Children's Vocabulary Project, we are investigating two questions:
- Not all children with DLD find word learning to be hard. We hypothesize that children who are more vigilant in maintaining attention to spoken messages are able to compensate for their word-learning problems.
- DLD is not only a problem with word learning; it affects other aspects of language. We hypothesize that word-learning problems cascade to impede other aspects of language processing, such as sentence comprehension.
Boys Town National Research Hospital is currently conducting research to understand the role of attention and memory in language and memory in language learning.
What will participants do?
The child will engage in fun and challenging language activities with a speech-language pathologist. Parents will complete several surveys about their child's development. Both child and parent will receive monetary compensation.
Where will the study take place?
We will use our mobile test vehicle to conduct the study outside of your home or you may participate at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, NE. Travel compensation will be provided for those outside of the Omaha metro area.
Who can participate?
Researchers are recruiting children who have typical language abilities OR who have suspected or diagnosed language, reading, or learning disabilities.
We are currently seeking individuals who:
- Are 6- to 9-years-old
- Have been exposed to English since birth (exposure to other languages is okay)
- Live in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Minnesota or Iowa
- Have not been diagnosed with hearing impairment, autism or intellectual disability
Questions? Contact Colin Guibault at colin.guibault@boystown.org or (531) 355-5077.
Interested in joining the Children's Vocabulary Project? Sign up today!
