Alt Mary, Mettler Heidi M, Schiff Elissa S, Evans-Reitz Nora, Burton Rebecca, Cretcher Sarah R, Staib Allison
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2025 Feb 4;68(2):579-601. doi: 10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00410. Epub 2025 Jan 22.
The purpose of this study was to determine if the Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers (VAULT) intervention could be efficaciously applied to a new treatment target: words a child neither understood nor said. We also assessed whether the type of context variability used to encourage semantic learning (i.e., action or object) would affect learning outcomes.
Nineteen primarily English-speaking late-talking toddlers received 8 weeks of VAULT intervention. They were quasirandomly assigned to a condition that highlighted either object or action variability. Individual effect sizes were calculated for target (treated) and control (not treated) words for each child. These were combined to assess group-level comparisons of treatment efficacy and treatment conditions. Generalization of the word-learning ability was assessed by comparing rates of learning on a vocabulary checklist prior to and during intervention. Bayesian statistics (e.g., tests, analysis of variance) were used for the analyses.
There was strong evidence for a treatment effect showing that children produced more target than control words and moderate evidence that they understood more target than control words. There was strong evidence for generalization. Children learned an average of 6.8 words per week during treatment. There was anecdotal evidence for no difference between treatment conditions.
VAULT, with a focus on context variability, can be used efficaciously to teach children to say words they do not understand at the start of treatment. The effects were most pronounced in the generalization data. Additionally, children were able to learn later-acquired words.
本研究的目的是确定晚期语言发展迟缓儿童的词汇习得与运用（VAULT）干预措施是否能有效地应用于一个新的治疗目标：儿童既不理解也不说出的单词。我们还评估了用于促进语义学习的情境变化类型（即动作或物体）是否会影响学习结果。
19名主要说英语的晚期语言发展迟缓幼儿接受了为期8周的VAULT干预。他们被准随机分配到突出物体或动作变化的条件组。计算每个孩子目标（接受治疗的）词和对照（未接受治疗的）词的个体效应量。将这些效应量合并起来，以评估治疗效果和治疗条件的组间比较。通过比较干预前和干预期间词汇清单上的学习率来评估单词学习能力的泛化情况。分析采用贝叶斯统计（如检验、方差分析）。
有强有力的证据表明存在治疗效果，即儿童说出的目标词比对照词多，也有中等强度的证据表明他们理解的目标词比对照词多。有强有力的证据表明存在泛化现象。儿童在治疗期间平均每周学习6.8个单词。有轶事证据表明治疗条件之间没有差异。
以情境变化为重点的VAULT干预措施可有效地用于教儿童说出他们在治疗开始时不理解的单词。这种效果在泛化数据中最为明显。此外，儿童能够学习后来习得的单词。
