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Examining the impaired learning mechanism in children with developmental language disorder

Award Number: R01DC018295
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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PROJECT SUMMARY Language Impairment is one of the most common communication disorders treated by speech-language pathologists. The disorder is characterized by impaired development of spoken language that cannot be attributed to hearing loss, intellectual disabilities, or other known neurological deficits (Benton, 1964). A major challenge in developing effective interventions for DLD is that the impaired learning mechanism underling the disorder is not yet understood. The project’s overarching goal is to fill this critical gap, so that treatment can be delivered in a manner that maximizes learning success. A leading theory suggests that the underlying cause for the language learning difficulties in children with DLD is a deficit in the ability to implicitly extract regularities. Within the framework of this theory, explicit learning strategies should be used to support learning in children with this disorder. Indeed, treatment provided to school-age children with DLD relies heavily on explicit learning by breaking down complex linguistic structures and syntactic regularities into small units that are taught explicitly, using verbalization and memorization. However, these teaching techniques may not be effective as rely on language-based explicit learning that is known to be significantly affected in children with DLD. The proposed project will test a novel hypothesis whereby that the learning deficit in DLD is rooted in an ineffective management of the interaction between explicit and implicit learning, caused by an impaired executive function of shifting. The project proposes that children with DLD demonstrate overreliance on explicit learning, and are failing to initiate a shift to implicit learning during complex learning, because of their impaired executive function of shifting. The project will examine behaviorally and at the neurophysiological level learning of complex structures by children with DLD and by their age and gender matched peers. Learning outcomes, use of strategies, and electrophysiological measured of implicit knowledge will be assessed in relation to the children’s shifting abilities, using two learning paradigms. The two learning paradigms will vary in the extent to which explicit learning is suppressed to evaluate whether eliminating the need to overcome the explicit bias and to initiate a shift improves complex learning in DLD. A well-established electrophysiological measure (the P600 event related potential that detects implicit knowledge of grammatical violations) will determine whether explicit learning hinders the acquisition and/or the expression of implicit knowledge in DLD. Understanding whether learning of complex structures in DLD is facilitated by the suppression of explicit learning strategies and by eliminating the need to shift from explicit to implicit learning will lead to improvement in the teaching techniques employed with children with DLD, and to the development of effective interventions that take into consideration these children’s unique learning profile.


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: 2024 ( Subtotal = $364,264 )
2024	2024	THE MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.	36 1ST AVE	CHARLESTOWN	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	5	6/8/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$364,264
														Subtotal = $364,264

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $346,008 )
2023	2023	MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.THE	36 1ST AVE	BOSTON	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	4	6/14/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$346,008
														Subtotal = $346,008

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $361,218 )
2022	2022	MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.THE	36 1ST AVE	BOSTON	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	3	6/10/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$361,218
														Subtotal = $361,218

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $351,834 )
2021	2021	MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.THE	36 1ST AVE	BOSTON	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	2	6/15/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$351,834
														Subtotal = $351,834

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $376,803 )
2020	2020	MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.THE	36 1ST AVE	BOSTON	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	1	7/30/2020	NEW	$0
2020	2020	MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.THE	36 1ST AVE	BOSTON	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	6/22/2020	NEW	$376,803
														Subtotal = $376,803

Grand Total All Awards = $1,800,127

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Examining the impaired learning mechanism in children with developmental language disorder

Award Number: R01DC018295

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

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

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