Word finding therapy for children V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effect of a contextual word learning intervention on word retrieval in children's naming and narrative language:a pilot study
IRAS ID
163715
Contact name
Carolyn D Hughes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 9 months, 30 days
Research summary
It has been estimated that 23% of children known to speech and language support services experience word finding difficulties where they understand and have learned words but find it difficult to retrieve these words when naming or talking with others. Word finding has been found to be a strong predictor of educational performance and thus children who experience word finding difficulties are at significant risk of poor literacy and academic attainment.
Previous research studies and indeed current clinical practice is underpinned by theory based on adult models of language processing where intervention aims to strengthen sound and meaning representations of words, making them easier for children to retrieve. Although some success is seen in learning targeted words, there is little evidence of maintenance of newly learned skills or indeed generalisation to narrative language.
As results from previous studies testing word learning have produced promising results, this study will investigate the feasibility of a novel narrative based language intervention in improving children’s ability to find words for use in their naming and narrative language. The participant children will also access the more traditional form of therapy so that the outcomes of each can be compared for each child. The four participant children will be known to Speech and Language Therapy and will access the interventions over an 8 week period in their school setting. Their performance in relation to understanding of words, single word naming and word finding in spoken language will be recorded at 7 time points: 1 and 2 months prior to intervention, weeks 1, 4, 5 and 8 during the intervention period and 1 month post intervention.
The study will inform future research within this complex area and results will be of both clinical and practical significance to the range of interventions available for these children.REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NE/0033
Date of REC Opinion
20 Feb 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion