title: Daily or weekly? The role of treatment frequency in the effectiveness of grammar treatment for children with specific language impairment.
abstract: This study compared the effectiveness of a school-based treatment for expressive grammar in 5-year-olds with specific language impairment delivered in two different dose frequencies: eight sessions delivered daily over 8 consecutive school days or eight sessions delivered weekly over 8 consecutive weeks. Eighteen children received treatment daily and 13 children received treatment weekly. In both groups, treatment consisted of eight 1-hour sessions of small group activities in a classroom setting. Techniques included explicit instruction, focused stimulation, recasting, and imitation. Results were analysed at the group level and as a case series with each child as their own control in a single-subject design. The 8-weeks group showed significantly greater gain in test scores over the treatment period than in an equal time period prior to treatment, whereas the 8-days group did not (Cohen's d = 1.64 for 8-weeks group). Single-subject analyses indicated that 46% of children in the 8-week group and 17% of children in the 8-day group showed a significant treatment effect. It is concluded that expressive grammar treatment was most effective when dose frequency was weekly over 8 weeks rather than daily over 8 days for 5-year-old children with specific language impairment.
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia. karen.smith-lock@mq.edu.au
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smith-Lock
authors.forename: Suze
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leitão
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: Polly
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Prior
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cronje
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Newhouse
authors.forename: Lyndsey
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nickels
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D007808:Language Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors