Although they perform normally on tests of nonverbal intelligence, children with specific language impairment (SLI) have significant problems in the development of semantic, grammatical, and/or narrative language skills. Until recently, interventions addressing these areas that are known to be efficacious have been based on the principle that more efficient learning depends on changing the language the child hears or by teaching new skills directly. In contrast, Fast ForWord Language (FFW-L) is designed to improve the learner's ability to process auditory and auditory-verbal signals by fundamentally reorganizing the child's central auditory nervous system. The broad objectives underlying the proposed investigation reflect the investigators' interest in developing and testing interventions, or sequences of interventions, that not only change the language performance of children with SLI, but fundamentally change their ability to learn new language from the input to which they are exposed.
The specific aims of the project are (a) to examine the effects of FFW-L on children's responses to a conventional Narrative Based Language Intervention (NBLI); (b) to compare the neurophysiologic effects of FFW-L with those of the less intensive, conventional NBLI; and (c) to compare the effects of FFW-L and those of NBLI (alone and in combination) on measures based on more naturalistic language activities.
These aims will be accomplished by examining the pre-NBLI and post-NBLI scores for children who have completed and those who have not completed FFW-L. If FFW-L has the desired effects on language learning potential, children who receive it prior to NBLI should demonstrate learning advantages over children who have not participated in FFW-L. A battery of language measures will be supplemented by whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) combined with high-density electroencephalography (EEC). These techniques will provide a detailed spatio-temporal profile of the brain's response to simple and complex auditory stimuli before and after intervention. The outcomes of the investigation will include (a) a better understanding of the effects of FFW-L on language learning abilities; (b) more comprehensive knowledge of the neurobiology of SLI and the brain's response to language intervention; and (c) the evidence necessary to plan and implement tests of sequences of interventions involving FFW-L and other conventional interventions in fully-powered clinical trials. ? ?
| Fey, Marc E; Finestack, Lizbeth H; Gajewski, Byron J et al. (2010) A preliminary evaluation of Fast ForWord-Language as an adjuvant treatment in language intervention. J Speech Lang Hear Res 53:430-49 |
| Popescu, Mihai; Fey, Marc E; Lewine, Jeffrey D et al. (2009) N400 responses of children with primary language disorder: intervention effects. Neuroreport 20:1104-8 |
