# Examining the impaired learning mechanism in children with developmental language disorder

> **NIH NIH R01** · MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS · 2021 · $351,834

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Language Impairment is one of the most common communication disorders treated by speech-language
pathologists. The disorder is characterized by impaired development of spoken language that cannot be
attributed to hearing loss, intellectual disabilities, or other known neurological deficits (Benton, 1964). A major
challenge in developing effective interventions for DLD is that the impaired learning mechanism underling the
disorder is not yet understood. The project’s overarching goal is to fill this critical gap, so that treatment can be
delivered in a manner that maximizes learning success. A leading theory suggests that the underlying cause for
the language learning difficulties in children with DLD is a deficit in the ability to implicitly extract regularities.
Within the framework of this theory, explicit learning strategies should be used to support learning in children
with this disorder. Indeed, treatment provided to school-age children with DLD relies heavily on explicit learning
by breaking down complex linguistic structures and syntactic regularities into small units that are taught explicitly,
using verbalization and memorization. However, these teaching techniques may not be effective as rely on
language-based explicit learning that is known to be significantly affected in children with DLD. The proposed
project will test a novel hypothesis whereby that the learning deficit in DLD is rooted in an ineffective management
of the interaction between explicit and implicit learning, caused by an impaired executive function of shifting. The
project proposes that children with DLD demonstrate overreliance on explicit learning, and are failing to initiate
a shift to implicit learning during complex learning, because of their impaired executive function of shifting. The
project will examine behaviorally and at the neurophysiological level learning of complex structures by children
with DLD and by their age and gender matched peers. Learning outcomes, use of strategies, and
electrophysiological measured of implicit knowledge will be assessed in relation to the children’s shifting abilities,
using two learning paradigms. The two learning paradigms will vary in the extent to which explicit learning is
suppressed to evaluate whether eliminating the need to overcome the explicit bias and to initiate a shift improves
complex learning in DLD. A well-established electrophysiological measure (the P600 event related potential that
detects implicit knowledge of grammatical violations) will determine whether explicit learning hinders the
acquisition and/or the expression of implicit knowledge in DLD.
Understanding whether learning of complex structures in DLD is facilitated by the suppression of explicit learning
strategies and by eliminating the need to shift from explicit to implicit learning will lead to improvement in the
teaching techniques employed with children with DLD, and to the development of effective interventions that
take into...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10200000
- **Project number:** 5R01DC018295-02
- **Recipient organization:** MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS
- **Principal Investigator:** Yael Arbel
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $351,834
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10200000

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10200000, Examining the impaired learning mechanism in children with developmental language disorder (5R01DC018295-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10200000. Licensed CC0.

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