# Retrieval-Based Word Learning in Developmental Language Disorder

> **NIH NIH R01** · PURDUE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $511,294

## Abstract

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD; also referred to was children with specific
language impairment) experience a significant deficit in language ability that is longstanding and
harmful to the children’s academic, social, and eventual economic well-being. Word learning is
one of the principal weaknesses in these children. This project focuses on the word learning
abilities of four- and five-year-old children with DLD in an effort to understand the nature of
these difficulties. The goal of the project is to build on our work accomplished in the first five
years to determine whether, as we have found thus far, special benefits accrue when these
children must frequently recall newly introduced words during the course of learning. The
planned studies seek to increase the children’s absolute levels of learning while maintaining the
advantage that repeated retrieval holds over comparison methods of learning. We also adapt
our learning procedures to an illustrated storybook format to promote children’s engagement
with the materials to be learned. Finally, we will determine if our repeated retrieval procedures
continue to prove superior when the words to be learned move from the single-word level to
appearing in sentences from the outset. Of special interest will be whether repeated retrieval
activities narrow the differences between children with DLD and their typically developing peers
relative to other word learning procedures. If the planned studies reveal larger word learning
gains than current methods, repeated retrieval activities can serve as the basis for the
development of new methods of treatment for children with word learning difficulties.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10425432
- **Project number:** 5R01DC014708-07
- **Recipient organization:** PURDUE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Laurence Baker Leonard
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $511,294
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10425432

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10425432, Retrieval-Based Word Learning in Developmental Language Disorder (5R01DC014708-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10425432. Licensed CC0.

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