Interactive Book Reading to Accelerate Word Learning by Kindergarten Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Incorporatin

Purpose: Laboratory-based word learning research demonstrates that retrieval-based practice supports learning and retention more than passive training strategies. The goal of the current study was to determine whether incorporating retrieval-based practice into an interactive book reading intervention contributed to better learning and retention for children with developmental language disorder (DLD) than a more passive version.

Method: Kindergarten children with DLD (N = 37) completed the intervention administered twice a week for a total of 15 sessions. The between-participants conditions varied in the proportion of retrieval opportunities (high, mid, low). Learning of word forms and meanings were assessed throughout training, immediately after training, and after 4-, 8-, and 12-week delays.

Results: The proportion of retrieval opportunities did not relate to learning or retention. Children who started the intervention with more language knowledge and skills produced more forms and meanings correctly during and after treatment. Few factors related to the learning and forgetting rates. Maternal education related positively to learning rate of forms. Children who produced more definitions during training and females, as opposed to males, demonstrated a shallower forgetting rate of definitions.

Conclusions: Both the more passive version and the retrieval-based version of the intervention were effective to support word learning in children with DLD. Overall, pretreatment characteristics did not provide a good indication of children's learning rate or posttraining forgetting rate. Thus, it is likely that frequent assessments during training are the best indicator of intervention effectiveness for a given child. Additionally, retention should be periodically assessed post-intervention to monitor forgetting.