The Effect of Working Memory Training on a Clinical Marker of French-Speaking Children With Developmental Language Disorder

Abstract

Purpose Our work investigates the production of 3rd-person accusative clitic pronouns in French-speaking typically developing (TD) children and children with developmental language disorder (DLD) following a novel working memory (WM) training program (12 hrs of effective training) that specifically targets the components of WM that have been shown to be impaired in children with DLD and to be directly related to the mastery of clitics ( Delage & Frauenfelder, submitted for publication ; Durrleman & Delage, 2016 ). Method Sixteen TD children aged 5–12 years and 26 age-matched children with DLD completed our 8-week WM training program. Furthermore, an age-matched control group of 16 TD children and 17 children with DLD followed a scholastic training regime matched for intensity and frequency. Syntax and WM were assessed prior to and following the WM/scholastic training. Results Significant posttraining WM gains were found in TD children and children with DLD who took part in the WM training, and the production rate of 3rd-person accusative clitics significantly increased in children with DLD following the WM training. No significant WM or syntax gains were observed in the control group. Conclusion These findings are noteworthy as Melby-Lervåg and Hulme's (2013) meta-analysis concluded that existing WM training programs show short-lived generalized effects to other comparable measures of WM, but that there is no evidence that such training generalizes to less directly related tasks. That our study led to gains in skills that were not trained (i.e., syntax) suggests that a WM training regime that is firmly grounded in theory and that targets the specific mechanisms shown to underpin the acquisition of syntax may indeed provide effective remediation for children with DLD.

Complex syntax and working memory in children with specific learning difficulties

“…If WM limitations are indeed responsible for deficits computing complex syntax in SLD, it may be of interest to train WM in this population to explore the possibility that WM rehabilitation positively influences syntactic performance. In fact, such a training study with promising preliminary results is currently underway with children with DLD (Delage et al, 2017; Stanford et al, 2019). Considering the similarities between children with DLD and a subgroup of children diagnosed with SLD, it would not be unreasonable to test the efficiency of such a training program in both populations.…”

Executive Functions and Morphosyntax: Distinguishing DLD From ADHD in French-Speaking Children

“…This is in contrast to less morphosyntactically complex pronouns, such as subject and reflexive pronouns and first-and second-person object pronouns, which develop with relatively little difficulty (Paradis et al, 2003;Chillier-Zesiger et al, 2006;Tuller et al, 2011;Delage et al, 2016). Common non-target behavior reported for children with DLD in elicitation studies includes ungrammatical omissions of the 3p object clitics, productions with a gender error on the object clitic, or productions in which a lexical noun phrase is used instead of a more pragmatically appropriate object clitic (Tuller et al, 2011;Stanford et al, 2019).…”

Tracking Changes in Frontal Lobe Hemodynamic Response in Individual Adults With Developmental Language Disorder Following HD tDCS Enhanced Phonological Working Memory Training: An fNIRS Feasibility Study

“…For example the participants in Ruf et al (2017) received tDCS stimulation concurrent with working memory training over a period of three training sessions whereas the participants in Richmond et al (2014) tDCS enhanced working memory training over a period of 10 training sessions. Similarly, studies that have focused on improving working memory in individuals with and without DLD also include multiple sessions ( Stanford et al, 2019 ). Although the number of sessions varies across studies, a consistent finding in working memory training studies is that the programs are effective as a tool in producing reliable short-term improvements in working memory skills in individuals with cognitive disorders (i.e., DLD, ADHD, etc.…”