title: Exploring the outcomes of a novel computer-assisted treatment program targeting expressive-grammar deficits in preschoolers with SLI.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The impact of a newly designed computer-assisted treatment (C-AT) program, My Sentence Builder, for the remediation of expressive-grammar deficits in children with specific language impairment (SLI) was explored. This program was specifically designed with features to directly address expressive-grammar difficulties, thought to be associated with hypothesized deficits in verbal working memory (VWM).
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-four preschoolers with deficits in expressive-grammar morphology participated. Using the randomization procedure of consecutive sampling, participants were recruited. Twenty-two participants were consecutively assigned to one of two treatment groups, C-AT or non C-AT (nC-AT). The nC-AT utilized conventional language stimulation procedures containing features which have been traditionally used to address expressive-grammar deficits. A group of equivalent children awaiting treatment and chosen from the same sample of children as the treatment participants served as a control group. Blind assessments of outcomes were completed pre-, post-, and 3-months post-treatment in a formal and informal context.
  
  
  RESULTS
  C-AT and nC-AT participants significantly outperformed controls pre-to-post to 3-months post-treatment in both assessment contexts. No significant differences in treatment gains were found between C-AT and nC-AT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggested that treatments designed to directly address expressive-grammar deficits were better than no treatment for preschool SLI. Further, use of a C-AT program may be another feasible treatment method for this disorder population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  As a result of this activity, the reader will recognize that: (1) expressive-grammar treatment is better than no treatment for immediate and continued language growth, (2) use of a C-AT program containing specific features designed to directly address expressive-grammar deficits is another viable, but not necessarily a better treatment option for the remediation of expressive-grammar deficits in preschool children with SLI, and (3) different outcome contexts yield distinct yet equally important findings about growth in children's expressive-grammar skills with treatment.
authors.affiliation: Child Language Laboratories, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. karlanadine@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: Karla N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Washington
authors.forename: Genese
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Warr-Leeper
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Thomas-Stonell
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D007807:Language Tests; D007808:Language Therapy; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D012660:Semantics; D012984:Software; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted