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The When to Worry about Language Study (W2W-L): Joint consideration of developmental patterning and neural substrates for enhancing earlyidentification of language impairment

Award Number: R01DC016273
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 03/05/2018
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/01/2025

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The When to Worry about Language Study (W2W-L): Joint consideration of developmental patterning and neural substrates for enhancing earlyidentification of language impairment - PROJECT SUMMARY Primary language impairment (PLI) begins early in life and affects 6-8% of children. Language intervention is maximally effective the earlier it is delivered. However, normative variation in language acquisition across toddlerhood (here, 24-36 months) contributes to a high rate of false positives, impeding accurate identification of PLI prior to late preschool age. The proposed study introduces a novel, theoretically- grounded, neurodevelopmental framework designed to generate a sensitive and specific model of toddler PLI risk. Innovations introduced in this developmentally-sensitive, translational approach include: (1) a developmental precursor model using state-of-the-art methods to characterize multiple features and growth patterns of toddler emergent language patterns, within a large community sample; (2) incorporating EEG/ERP neural biomarkers of language and transactional synchrony into PLI predictive models; and (3) considering emergent mental health risk. Mental health risk is captured via multi-method measures of irritability, a developmentally meaningful marker of risk for internalizing and externalizing problems that are common correlates of PLI. The proposed When to Worry about Language Study (W2W-L) will capitalize on the team's existed funded study of 350 infants (50% irritable and 50% non irritable) (R01MH107652, Wakschlag, PI) and enrich it via recruitment of a new sub-sample of 200 late talking toddlers. This will yield a large and diverse sample of 550 24 month olds, followed to age 54 months (when PLI can be reliably evaluated). The key predictor will be toddler emergent language patterns measured via language skill, language processing, and corollary neural biomarkers. The central outcome is primary language impairment (PLI) status at preschool age, assessed via clinical gold standard measures. Key risk modifiers are distal and proximal features of the transactional language environment, and longitudinal patterns of irritability. SPECIFIC AIMS: Aim 1. Specify the contribution of language skills, processing, neural biomarkers, and their growth to early PLI prediction. Hypotheses: 1a. Language skills, processing, and neural biomarkers will each contribute incrementally to PLI prediction. 1b. Considering longitudinal patterns will enhance prediction. Aim 2. Identify the distal risk- and proximal protective- features of the transactional language environment that provide greatest explanatory power for individual differences in PLI. Hypothesis 2: Family history and poor parental language ability will increase PLI risk, and features of parental input, and behavioral and neural synchrony will decrease PLI risk. Aim 3. Examine the mutual influences of toddler irritability, proximal language environment, and emergent language patterns on PLI pathways. Hypothesis 3: A model specifying these reciprocal influences over time will sharpen PLI prediction beyond variance explained by their individual influences. Aim 4. Evaluate feasibility of a clinical algorithm for earlier PLI risk identification. We will use machine learning approaches to generate a sensitive/specific, feasible clinical model building on Aims 1-3.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = -$83,739 )
2026	2022	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK ST	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	5	1/29/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$83,739
														Subtotal = -$83,739

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2024	2022	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK STREET	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	5	1/12/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $730,210 )
2022	2022	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	002	5	4/13/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$65,163
2022	2022	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	5	2/15/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$586,436
2022	2022	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	5	3/29/2022	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$78,611
														Subtotal = $730,210

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $653,332 )
2021	2021	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	4	2/17/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$653,332
														Subtotal = $653,332

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $782,629 )
2020	2020	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	002	3	7/2/2020	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$197,084
2020	2020	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	3	2/11/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$585,545
2020	2019	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	12/10/2019	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$0
														Subtotal = $782,629

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $808,561 )
2019	2019	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK ST EVANSTON	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	11/29/2018	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$34,593
2019	2019	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK ST EVANSTON	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	2	2/15/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$773,968
														Subtotal = $808,561

Issue Date FY: 2018 ( Subtotal = $666,236 )
2018	2018	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	633 CLARK ST EVANSTON	EVANSTON	IL	60208	COOK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	3/5/2018	NEW	$666,236
														Subtotal = $666,236

Grand Total All Awards = $3,557,229

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The When to Worry about Language Study (W2W-L): Joint consideration of developmental patterning and neural substrates for enhancing earlyidentification of language impairment

Award Number: R01DC016273

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 03/05/2018

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/01/2025

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