PROTOCOL: Language interventions for improving oral language outcomes in children with neurodevelopmental disorders: A systematic review

This protocol presents the plan for a systematic review that will investigate the effect of oral language interventions for children with intellectual disability (ID), language disorder (LD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Down syndrome (DS), Williams syndrome (WS), and fragile X syndrome (FXS). Language development is a highly frequent area of difficulty for children within these diagnostic groups, and oral language interventions are therefore important. However, to provide better evidence‐informed practice, we need to investigate what oral language interventions are effective and for whom. The systematic review will not only investigate the effect of oral language interventions targeted at specific disorders but also identify interventions that may be yield similar improvements in different neurodevelopmental disorders.publishedVersio

Oral language interventions can improve language outcomes in children with neurodevelopmental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Young people who fail to develop language as expected face significant challenges in all aspects of life. Unfortunately, language disorders are common, either as a distinct condition (e.g., Developmental Language Disorder) or as a part of another neurodevelopmental condition (e.g., autism). Finding ways to attenuate language problems through intervention has the potential to yield great benefits not only for the individual but also for society as a whole. Objectives This meta-analytic review examined the effect of oral language interventions for children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Search Methods The last electronic search was conducted in April 2022. Selection Criteria Intervention studies had to target language skills for children from 2 to 18 years of age with Developmental Language Disorder, autism, intellectual disability, Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, and Williams syndrome in randomised controlled trials or quasi-experimental designs. Control groups had to include business-as-usual, waiting list, passive or active conditions. However, we excluded studies in which the active control group received a different type, delivery, or dosage of another language intervention. Eligible interventions implemented explicit and structured activities (i.e., explicit instruction of vocabulary, narrative structure or grammatical rules) and/or implicit and broad activities (i.e., shared book reading, general language stimulation). The intervention studies had to assess language skills in receptive and/or expressive modalities. Data Collection and Analysis The search provided 8195 records after deduplication. Records were screened by title and abstract, leading to full-text examinations of 448 records. We performed Correlated and Hierarchical Effects models and ran a retrospective power analysis via simulation. Publication bias was assessed via p-curve and precision-effect estimate. Main Results We examined 38 studies, with 46 group comparisons and 108 effects comparing pre-/post-tests and eight studies, with 12 group comparisons and 21 effects at follow-up. The results showed a mean effect size of d = 0.27 at the post-test and d = 0.18 at follow-up. However, there was evidence of publication bias and overestimation of the mean effects. Effects from the meta-analysis were significantly related to these elements: (1) receptive vocabulary and omnibus receptive measures showed smaller effect sizes relative to expressive vocabulary, grammar, expressive and receptive discourse, and omnibus expressive tests; and (2) the length of the intervention, where longer sessions conducted over a longer period of time were more beneficial than brief sessions and short-term interventions. Neither moderators concerning participants’ characteristics (children's diagnosis, diagnostic status, age, sex, and non-verbal cognitive ability and severity of language impairment), nor those regarding of the treatment components and implementation of the language interventions (intervention content, setting, delivery agent, session structure of the intervention or total number of sessions) reached significance. The same occurred to indicators of study quality. The risk of bias assessment showed that reporting quality for the studies examined in the review was poor. Authors’ Conclusions In sum, the current evidence base is promising but inconclusive. Pre-registration and replication of more robust and adequately powered trials, which include a wider range of diagnostic conditions, together with more long-term follow-up comparisons, are needed to drive evidence-based practice and policy.publishedVersio

Validation of an Early Numeracy Screener for First Graders

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Early Numeracy Screener. The Early Numeracy Screener is a teacher-administered, paper-and-pencil test measuring counting skills, numerical relational skills, and basic arithmetic skills. Three hundred and sixty-six first graders took the Early Numeracy Screener at the beginning of the school year. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in order to examine whether the screening tool was identified as a one-factor model or a three-factor model. The confirmatory factor analysis found evidence for the three-factor model, establishing construct validity. Evidence for criterion-related validity was found in crosstabulation and correlation with the national test measuring overall mathematics performance taken towards the end of the school year. The Early Numeracy Screener may serve as an indicator of young children's performance in early numeracy. The brevity and ease of use of the Early Numeracy Screener make it suitable for classroom instructional settings.Peer reviewe

Reading Comprehension and its Underlying Components in Second Language Learners: A Meta-analysis of Studies Comparing First and Second Language Learners

We report a systematic meta-analytic review of studies comparing reading comprehension and its underlying components (language comprehension, decoding, and phonological awareness) in first- and second-language learners. The review included 82 studies, and 576 effect sizes were calculated for reading comprehension and underlying components. Key findings were that, compared to first-language learners, second-language learners display a medium-sized deficit in reading comprehension (pooled effect size d = -0.62), a large deficit in language comprehension (pooled effect size d = -1.12), but only small differences in phonological awareness (pooled effect size d = –0.08) and decoding (pooled effect size d = –0.12). A moderator analysis showed that characteristics related to the type of reading comprehension test reliably explained the variation in the differences in reading comprehension between first- and second-language learners. For language comprehension, studies of samples from low socioeconomic backgrounds and samples where only the first language was used at home generated the largest group differences in favor of first-language learners. Test characteristics and study origin reliably contributed to the variations between the studies of language comprehension. For decoding, Canadian studies showed group differences in favor of second-language learners, whereas the opposite was the case for U.S. studies. Regarding implications, unless specific decoding problems are detected, interventions that aim to ameliorate reading comprehension problems among second-language learners should focus on language comprehension skills. Published Open Access, Copyright 2013 American Psychological Associatio

Early prediction of learning outcomes in reading

This chapter focuses on the processes involved in the development of children’s decoding skills: the ability to translate printed words into a speech code, typically assessed by the accuracy and speed of reading aloud. If children struggle in developing this ability, they are often characterized as having dyslexia, but since decoding skills are normally distributed in the population, the cut-off for this diagnosis is somewhat arbitrary (Melby-Lervåg et al. 2012). During the first two years of school, the main aim for children is to develop accurate and fluent early reading abilities that will lay the foundation for the main goal of reading – to be able to extract meaning from text. Thus, though insufficient by itself, efficient word reading is, in turn, a necessary condition for the development of reading comprehension. Research on the foundations of learning to read has burgeoned in the last twenty-five years, with important theoretical and practical consequences

Dybdelæring: En ny utdanningsfarsott?

Utdanningsforskning er et ungt forskningsfelt, og i likhet med andre felt som har kort  forskningstradisjon bærer det preg av en del barnesykdommer. En slik barnesykdom er at det med jevne mellomrom kommer farsotter med et svakt forskningsfundament. Eksempler på slike farsotter i utdanning er læringsstiler, læringspyramiden, Hatties visible learning og Lesing på talens grunn. En ny bok om "Dybdelæring" av Fullan, Quinn og McEachen er nå oversatt til norsk. Dessverre gir en gjennomlesing av denne boken grunn til bekymring for at vi med dybdelæring står overfor en ny farsott i utdanningspolitikk og praksis

Modeling the Development of Reading Comprehension

A skilled reader can derive the meaning from a printed text rapidly and effortlessly. Becoming a skilled reader takes time and practice and is one of the main goals of primary school education. Since the previous edition of this book in 2005, research in this area has flourished and there are now many longitudinal studies examining how reading comprehension develops. This chapter will focus on what we know about the development of reading comprehension in the early school years, with a particular emphasis on understanding causal processes