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Intervention for Fluency Difficulty (FIST)

Primary Purpose

Word Finding Difficulty, Communication Disorders

Status
Recruiting
Phase
Not Applicable
Locations
United Kingdom
Study Type
Interventional
Intervention
Intervention for fluency difficulty
Sponsored by
University College, London
About
Eligibility
Locations
Arms
Outcomes
Full info

About this trial

This is an interventional treatment trial for Word Finding Difficulty

Eligibility Criteria

4 Years - 11 Years (Child)All SexesAccepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion Criteria:

  • matched to children with word-finding difficulty by age, gender and native language

Exclusion Criteria:

  • none

Sites / Locations

  • Peter HowellRecruiting

Arms of the Study

Arm 1

Arm 2

Arm Type

Active Comparator

Experimental

Arm Label

Intervention for fluency difficulty (controls)

Intervention for fluency difficulty (experimental)

Arm Description

Behavioural intervention (children practice speaking specially constructed non-word materials). Intervention is the same for both arms, here this is for controls.

Behavioural intervention (children practice speaking specially constructed non-word materials). Intervention is the same for both arms, here this is for experimental group

Outcomes

Primary Outcome Measures

Non-word Repetition (NWR)
This will be obtained to identify reception class children who have word finding difficulty (WFD) and fluency problems in schools. Samples of speech will be obtained to confirm children who have WFD or fluency difficulty.
Phonological Training
The training procedure is delivered in a game form so that students can engage with and enjoy the test. All the following tests are conducted before and after training. Conversational speech samples are collected and analysed using a test for WFD (German, 1994) and one for fluency difficulty (Riley, 1994). Speech comprehension and letter sound knowledge tasks to assess educational impact.
Working Memory (WM) training
This will involve three groups of children. For children with fluency difficulty, speech samples of about 10 minutes will be recorded before and at the end of WM training. Each speech sample will be assessed for %Stuttered Syllables (%SS) and Whole Word Repetition (%WWR) to obtain baseline measures and measurements following the intervention as well as in a follow up session. The intervention will be delivered to pairs of children. Two other groups of children who do not have fluency difficulty will take part either in a non-WM activity (group 1) using the same materials that will be used for the intervention group or the WM intervention (group 2).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Full Information

First Posted
December 29, 2019
Last Updated
January 2, 2020
Sponsor
University College, London
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1. Study Identification

Unique Protocol Identification Number
NCT04217460
Brief Title
Intervention for Fluency Difficulty
Acronym
FIST
Official Title
Intervention for Fluency Difficulty
Study Type
Interventional

2. Study Status

Record Verification Date
January 2020
Overall Recruitment Status
Recruiting
Study Start Date
August 24, 2018 (Actual)
Primary Completion Date
December 31, 2021 (Anticipated)
Study Completion Date
December 31, 2024 (Anticipated)

3. Sponsor/Collaborators

Responsible Party, by Official Title
Principal Investigator
Name of the Sponsor
University College, London

4. Oversight

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product
No
Data Monitoring Committee
Yes

5. Study Description

Brief Summary
The focus of the study is to identify children with word-finding difficulty and other speech and communication difficulties such as stuttering, a procedure referred to as screening. Ideally, investigators want to screen all children in the reception classes in the schools with which investigators work. The procedures were designed so that they work with children who speak English or those whose first language is not English. A second aim concerns what teachers can do when a child does not pass the screen. Investigators have developed a type of treatment designed for children who have either word-finding difficulty or fluency difficulty. This project concerns the intervention for children with word-finding difficulty. The treatment is conducted in a quiet room with pairs of children. The children with word-finding difficulty in each group are assessed individually for about 10 min before the treatment starts to establish a baseline for assessing improvement using a standardized task that tests for word-finding difficulty. A recording is taken, similar to that investigators obtained at the screening phase. The training takes place over three weeks (one session a week of 20-30 minutes' duration). Word-finding difficulty and fluency are reassessed at the end of the three-week period and at follow-up one week later.
Detailed Description
The focus of the study is to identify children with word-finding difficulty and other speech and communication difficulties such as stuttering, a procedure referred to as screening. Ideally, investigators want to screen all children in the reception classes in the schools with which investigators work. The procedures were designed so that they work with children who speak English or those whose first language is not English. A second aim concerns what teachers can do when a child does not pass the screen. Investigators have developed a type of treatment designed for children who have either word-finding difficulty or fluency difficulty. This project concerns the intervention for children with word-finding difficulty. The researcher will visit every participating child at school for approximately 10 minutes. Prior to that, the researcher will speak to the child's teacher to ensure that the sessions do not clash with any important class activities. Each child will be seen individually and will listen to a number of "nonsense" words one by one and will be asked to repeat the word. The child will be told that these are funny sounding made up word. The child will be audio-recorded while speaking to the researcher. Each audio recording is then analysed anonymously at UCL for signs of fluency or word finding difficulty. All children occasionally show these signs and they are not usually a cause of concern. Some parents are then invited to volunteer their child for the experimental word-finding training based on these results. This does not necessarily mean that they have word-finding problems (e.g. for children acting as controls). Separate information sheets indicating what this involves will be given to parents. Parents will also be given a link to a brief online questionnaire about the child's language history that they can fill out at their own time on their phone or computer. No identifiable information are collected and every parent will be assigned a number that matches the child's participation number. Only the researchers will have access to the questionnaire. There is no obligation on parents who have been contacted to have their children participate in the training.

6. Conditions and Keywords

Primary Disease or Condition Being Studied in the Trial, or the Focus of the Study
Word Finding Difficulty, Communication Disorders

7. Study Design

Primary Purpose
Treatment
Study Phase
Not Applicable
Interventional Study Model
Parallel Assignment
Model Description
Children screened for word-finding difficulty. Children at risk are matched with controls who do not have word-finding difficulty. Blind intervention.
Masking
ParticipantCare ProviderInvestigator
Masking Description
All details pseudo-anonymized before analysis.
Allocation
Non-Randomized
Enrollment
100 (Anticipated)

8. Arms, Groups, and Interventions

Arm Title
Intervention for fluency difficulty (controls)
Arm Type
Active Comparator
Arm Description
Behavioural intervention (children practice speaking specially constructed non-word materials). Intervention is the same for both arms, here this is for controls.
Arm Title
Intervention for fluency difficulty (experimental)
Arm Type
Experimental
Arm Description
Behavioural intervention (children practice speaking specially constructed non-word materials). Intervention is the same for both arms, here this is for experimental group
Intervention Type
Behavioral
Intervention Name(s)
Intervention for fluency difficulty
Intervention Description
Children are required to speak materials they hear on recordings. The materials are not words, but contain sound sequences that occur in their language and English.
Primary Outcome Measure Information:
Title
Non-word Repetition (NWR)
Description
This will be obtained to identify reception class children who have word finding difficulty (WFD) and fluency problems in schools. Samples of speech will be obtained to confirm children who have WFD or fluency difficulty.
Time Frame
3 weeks intervention
Title
Phonological Training
Description
The training procedure is delivered in a game form so that students can engage with and enjoy the test. All the following tests are conducted before and after training. Conversational speech samples are collected and analysed using a test for WFD (German, 1994) and one for fluency difficulty (Riley, 1994). Speech comprehension and letter sound knowledge tasks to assess educational impact.
Time Frame
3 weeks intervention
Title
Working Memory (WM) training
Description
This will involve three groups of children. For children with fluency difficulty, speech samples of about 10 minutes will be recorded before and at the end of WM training. Each speech sample will be assessed for %Stuttered Syllables (%SS) and Whole Word Repetition (%WWR) to obtain baseline measures and measurements following the intervention as well as in a follow up session. The intervention will be delivered to pairs of children. Two other groups of children who do not have fluency difficulty will take part either in a non-WM activity (group 1) using the same materials that will be used for the intervention group or the WM intervention (group 2).
Time Frame
3 weeks intervention

10. Eligibility

Sex
All
Minimum Age & Unit of Time
4 Years
Maximum Age & Unit of Time
11 Years
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria: matched to children with word-finding difficulty by age, gender and native language Exclusion Criteria: none
Facility Information:
Facility Name
Peter Howell
City
London
ZIP/Postal Code
WC1H0AP
Country
United Kingdom
Individual Site Status
Recruiting
Facility Contact:
First Name & Middle Initial & Last Name & Degree
Peter Howell, PhD
Phone
+4402076797566
Ext
+4402076797566
Email
p.howell@ucl.ac.uk
First Name & Middle Initial & Last Name & Degree
Roa'a AlSulaiman
Phone
+4402076797566
Ext
+4402076797566
Email
roaa.al-sulaiman.17@ucl.ac.uk

12. IPD Sharing Statement

Plan to Share IPD
Undecided
IPD Sharing Plan Description
Pseudoanonymized in parents agree

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Intervention for Fluency Difficulty

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