title: The 'robustness' of vocabulary intervention in the public schools: targets and techniques employed in speech-language therapy.
abstract: This study examined vocabulary intervention-in terms of targets and techniques-for children with language impairment receiving speech-language therapy in public schools (i.e., non-fee-paying schools) in the United States. Vocabulary treatments and targets were examined with respect to their alignment with the empirically validated practice of rich vocabulary intervention. Participants were forty-eight 5-7-year-old children participating in kindergarten or the first-grade year of school, all of whom had vocabulary-specific goals on their individualized education programmes. Two therapy sessions per child were coded to determine what vocabulary words were being directly targeted and what techniques were used for each. Study findings showed that the majority of words directly targeted during therapy were lower-level basic vocabulary words (87%) and very few (1%) were academically relevant. On average, three techniques were used per word to promote deep understanding. Interpreting findings against empirical descriptions of rich vocabulary intervention indicates that children were exposed to some but not all aspects of this empirically supported practice.
authors.affiliation: Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Justice
authors.forename: Mary Beth
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: Kimberly A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pratt
authors.forename: Tricia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Biancone
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D004519:Education, Special / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D007808:Language Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D012572:School Health Services; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D013070:Speech Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D014825:Vocabulary
keywords: language impairment; speech-language therapy; vocabulary intervention