Actively Recruiting
Early Achievements - Shaping Early Language and Literacy Skills
Led by Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc. · Updated on 2025-08-05
360
Participants Needed
1
Research Sites
270 weeks
Total Duration
On this page
Sponsors
H
Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc.
Lead Sponsor
I
Institute of Education Sciences
Collaborating Sponsor
AI-Summary
What this Trial Is About
Language skills are important for long-term reading comprehension success. Yet there are limited instructional approaches available for prekindergarten (pre-K) teachers to use in their inclusive classrooms to boost literacy-related language skills in children with and without language delays or disorders. In the first part of this study, the investigators will develop a teacher training program focused on building pre-K children's language-based literacy skills. Teachers will be trained and will use the strategies that they learn during literacy-related activities in their inclusive pre-K classrooms. Their students' language-related literacy skills will be measured before and after their training. Based on teacher feedback and child assessment information, the training program will be revised. In the final part of the study, a preliminary randomized control trial (RCT) will be done using the revised training approach. The results of the RCT will help the investigators know if the teacher training program helps to improve the effectiveness of teachers' instruction and their students' development of language-related literacy skills. The primary goal of this research study is to determine whether study-trained pre-K teachers in inclusive early childhood education classrooms use more effective teaching strategies than teachers who do not receive the training. A secondary goal of this research study is to determine if this teacher training program strengthens language-related literacy skills for students with and without language disorders or delays. The research team hypothesizes that teachers who participate in the training program will use effective teaching strategies more often than teachers who do not receive the training. Additionally, the investigators predict that teachers who receive the training will feel more confident teaching early language-based literacy skills to their students (with and without language delays/disorders) than teachers who do not receive the training. Researchers also predict that students taught by teachers who receive the training will perform better on language tests when compared to their peers in classrooms where the teacher training program was not used.
CONDITIONS
Official Title
Early Achievements - Shaping Early Language and Literacy Skills
Who Can Participate
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if you...
- Teachers must have students in the specified age range
- Teachers must have at least one child in their classroom with language delay or disorder or who meets study criteria for developmental language disorder
- Teachers must plan to teach for the duration of the training period
- Students in the DLD group must use phrases with a noun and a verb in most spontaneous speech
- Students in the DLD group must be exposed to English more than 50% of the time at home
- Students in the DLD group must receive language-related services, have a diagnosis of language delay/disorder, or meet study criteria based on specific tests
- Students in the DLD group must be between approximately 45 and 65 months old
- Students in the typically developing group must not have a diagnosis of developmental language disorder or disability
- Typically developing students must be between approximately 45 and 65 months old
- Typically developing students must be exposed to English more than 50% of the time at home
You will not qualify if you...
- Children with uncorrected visual or hearing impairments
- Children with motor impairments that prevent reaching, grasping, or sitting independently
- Children scoring more than 1.5 standard deviations below the mean on the Visual Reception subscale of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning
- Exclusion decisions may be made case-by-case by the principal investigator based on individual child performance
AI-Screening
AI-Powered Screening
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Trial Site Locations
Total: 1 location
1
Kennedy Krieger Institute
Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21211
Actively Recruiting
Research Team
R
Rebecca Landa, PhD
CONTACT
S
Shaylee Woods, MS
CONTACT
How is the study designed?
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Masking
SINGLE
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Model
PARALLEL
Primary Purpose
TREATMENT
Number of Arms
2
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