Intervention for Fluency Difficulty

NCT04217460 | Unknown DMC

• 1 other identifier: phowell
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 100
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The focus of the study is to identify children with word-finding difficulty and other speech and communication difficulties such as stuttering, a procedure referred to as screening. Ideally, investigators want to screen all children in the reception classes in the schools with which investigators work. The procedures were designed so that they work with children who speak English or those whose first language is not English. A second aim concerns what teachers can do when a child does not pass the screen. Investigators have developed a type of treatment designed for children who have either word-finding difficulty or fluency difficulty. This project concerns the intervention for children with word-finding difficulty. The treatment is conducted in a quiet room with pairs of children. The children with word-finding difficulty in each group are assessed individually for about 10 min before the treatment starts to establish a baseline for assessing improvement using a standardized task that tests for word-finding difficulty. A recording is taken, similar to that investigators obtained at the screening phase. The training takes place over three weeks (one session a week of 20-30 minutes' duration). Word-finding difficulty and fluency are reassessed at the end of the three-week period and at follow-up one week later.

Conditions

Word Finding Difficulty; Communication Disorders

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Non-word Repetition (NWR)

  This will be obtained to identify reception class children who have word finding difficulty (WFD) and fluency problems in schools. Samples of speech will be obtained to confirm children who have WFD or fluency difficulty.

  3 weeks intervention

• Phonological Training

  The training procedure is delivered in a game form so that students can engage with and enjoy the test. All the following tests are conducted before and after training. Conversational speech samples are collected and analysed using a test for WFD (German, 1994) and one for fluency difficulty (Riley, 1994). Speech comprehension and letter sound knowledge tasks to assess educational impact.

  3 weeks intervention

• Working Memory (WM) training

  This will involve three groups of children. For children with fluency difficulty, speech samples of about 10 minutes will be recorded before and at the end of WM training. Each speech sample will be assessed for %Stuttered Syllables (%SS) and Whole Word Repetition (%WWR) to obtain baseline measures and measurements following the intervention as well as in a follow up session. The intervention will be delivered to pairs of children. Two other groups of children who do not have fluency difficulty will take part either in a non-WM activity (group 1) using the same materials that will be used for the intervention group or the WM intervention (group 2).

  3 weeks intervention

Study Arms (2)

Intervention for fluency difficulty (controls)

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Behavioural intervention (children practice speaking specially constructed non-word materials). Intervention is the same for both arms, here this is for controls.

Behavioral: Intervention for fluency difficulty

Intervention for fluency difficulty (experimental)

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioural intervention (children practice speaking specially constructed non-word materials). Intervention is the same for both arms, here this is for experimental group

Behavioral: Intervention for fluency difficulty

Interventions

Intervention for fluency difficulty BEHAVIORAL

Children are required to speak materials they hear on recordings. The materials are not words, but contain sound sequences that occur in their language and English.

Intervention for fluency difficulty (controls); Intervention for fluency difficulty (experimental)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 4 Years - 11 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• matched to children with word-finding difficulty by age, gender and native language

You may not qualify if:

• none

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University College, London: lead

Study Sites (1)

Peter Howell

London, WC1H0AP, United Kingdom

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Anomia; Communication Disorders

Interventions

Methods

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Language Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Mental Disorders

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Investigative Techniques

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: TRIPLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, CARE PROVIDER, INVESTIGATOR
• Masking Details: All details pseudo-anonymized before analysis.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Model Details: Children screened for word-finding difficulty. Children at risk are matched with controls who do not have word-finding difficulty. Blind intervention.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 29, 2019
• First Posted: January 3, 2020
• Study Start: August 24, 2018
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2021
• Study Completion: December 31, 2024
• Last Updated: January 3, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-01

Locations

GB (1)