Retrieval Practice and Word Learning in Children With Specific Language Impairment and Their Typically Developing Peers.
Laurence B Leonard, Patricia Deevy
PMID 33064601WHAT IT FOUND
Repeated spaced retrieval helps preschool children with specific language impairment learn new words better than repeated study or immediate retrieval.
This method improved word form and meaning recall, maintained retention over one week, and helped children apply words to new objects.
Key findings
01Children with SLI recalled more word forms and meanings when taught using repeated spaced retrieval compared to repeated study, with nine of ten children in the first experiment showing this benefit.
02The advantage of repeated spaced retrieval over immediate retrieval was seen in both word forms and meanings, and this benefit was observed in 13 of 16 children with SLI in the second experiment.
03Children with SLI generalized novel adjectives learned through repeated spaced retrieval to new objects at the same rate as their typically developing peers, with 13 of 14 children showing a recall advantage for the spaced retrieval condition.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The studies focused on preschool children with specific language impairment who had age-appropriate scores on standardized vocabulary tests, so it is unclear if the same benefits apply to children with more severe vocabulary deficits. The experiments used novel words in a controlled laboratory setting, not real words in naturalistic therapy or classroom environments. The review summarizes the authors' own series of studies, which may introduce bias in the selection or interpretation of the findings. Retention was only measured up to one week; longer-term effects are unknown.
Declared interests
The research was supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The article stems from a symposium at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that immediate retrieval is ineffective because it is not the best option. The study found that repeated spaced retrieval was superior to repeated study and immediate retrieval, but immediate retrieval is still a common and potentially useful clinical practice that was not shown to be harmful or useless, only less effective than spacing.