Sentence Shaping - DHH

NCT06860022 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 240927
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 30
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The proposed research addresses a long-standing and important challenge of improving literacy skills of children who are deaf and hard of hearing, a historically under researched group. The investigators aim to leverage shape coding - an empirically validated intervention approach for constructing sentences in spoken English - for improving how efficiently children who are deaf and hard of hearing learn to correctly construct sentences in written English. To advance the promising yet underutilized research on shape coding, the investigators complete the next logical step of applying the visual supports provided with shape coding to written language for deaf and hard of hearing children. Shape coding has been effective for teaching sentence structure in spoken English to children with language disabilities and has recently been applied to sentence structure in American Sign Language with deaf and hard of hearing children. Intervention involving shape coding is predicted to result in increased accuracy of word order in sentences in written English because deaf and hard of hearing children often benefit from visual information. The investigators will accomplish this aim using single case multiple probe across participants design studies with 30 fifth through eighth grade children who are deaf and hard of hearing. The knowledge gained will guide language and literacy intervention for children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Conditions

Hearing Loss, Bilateral

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Proportion of children for whom the intervention is successful

  The investigators will calculate the proportion of children for whom the intervention is successful, defined as at least 80% accuracy for 3 consecutive data collection days.

  Baseline to up to 8 weeks maximum

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Proportion of children that generalize targeted skill to unpracticed words within targeted structure

  Baseline to up to 8 weeks maximum

• Proportion of children that generalize targeted skill to unpracticed modality within targeted structure

  Baseline to up to 8 weeks maximum.

• Proportion of children that maintain targeted skill after intervention has ended

  Begins no more than 2 weeks after intervention phase ends; lasts up to 3 weeks

Study Arms (1)

Shape coding

EXPERIMENTAL

Intervention will be introducing and utilizing Shape Coding to construct sentences.

Behavioral: Shape Coding

Interventions

Shape Coding BEHAVIORAL

Intervention will include introducing and reviewing the relevant shapes from Shape Coding and the order in which the shapes go in a sentence. The researcher will then model how to put the word tiles in order according to the shapes. Next the researcher and student work together to construct sentences. The student is then given the opportunity to independently construct sentences using the word tiles and Shape Coding. At the end of instruction, the researcher and student review the shapes and the student has the opportunity to independently construct sentences without shape coding.

Shape coding

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 9 Years - 15 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Children in grades five through eight
• deaf or hard of hearing
• use spoken English and American Sign Language (ASL)
• bilateral hearing loss
• the ability to read and understand the grammatical structures of interest
• already be writing sentences, but demonstrate errors in word order and/or grammar.

You may not qualify if:

• diagnosis of dyslexia
• uncorrected vision impairment (i.e., identified vision loss without use of corrective lenses that interferes with eligibility evaluation tasks)
• evidence of severe motor impairment (i.e., insufficient motor skills to complete eligibility evaluation tasks independently).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Vanderbilt University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Nashville, Tennessee, 37232, United States

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Hearing Loss, Bilateral

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Hearing Loss; Hearing Disorders; Ear Diseases; Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases; Sensation Disorders; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Central Study Contacts

Adriana M Valtierra, M.S.

CONTACT

219-614-5980; adriana.m.valtierra@vanderbilt.edu

Jena McDaniel, PhD

CONTACT

615-936-5114; jena.mcdaniel@vumc.org

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: Single-case multiple probe across participants

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 27, 2025
• First Posted: March 5, 2025
• Study Start: August 28, 2025
• Primary Completion: April 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 1, 2026
• Last Updated: October 22, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-10

Locations

US (1)