# Sequential Pattern Learning in Children with Developmental Language Disorder

> **NIH NIH R01** · FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME · 2022 · $369,148

## Abstract

Project Summary
Developmental language disorder (DLD; aka specific language impairment) affects approximately 7% of
children at the time they enter kindergarten, with longstanding adverse academic, social, and communicative
consequences. While there is no question that language deficits feature prominently in children diagnosed with
DLD, there are other cognitive and motor capacities affected—such as pattern induction, rhythmic grouping,
and sequential organization. Previous findings show that the capacity for deploying sequentially patterned
information mediates language and motor production. Sequential patterning is a central component of
phonology and morphosyntax--domains of language difficulty presented in children with DLD. It has become
apparent that this broad profile of deficits cannot be explained by a general motor co-morbidity, but rather
forms a core component of DLD. Therefore, it is crucial to determine whether learning and generalization
would be facilitated by the inclusion of these more basic cognitive operations. Indeed, an exclusive focus on
language (especially morphosyntactic) factors in intervention has resulted in slow and laborious learning in
children with DLD with only small gains observed. The central aim of the current project is to implement a novel
framework for applying domain general cognitive mechanisms to learning and generalization; specifically all of
the proposed experiments have in common the hypothesis that children with DLD will learn more effectively
and generalize more broadly when targets are selected to emphasize the regularity of sequential patterns. The
outcome of this work has the potential to inform early identification of very young children--when sequence
learning (but not grammatical) deficits may be identified--and to alter the substance of intervention to
incorporate broad cognitive, language, and motor mechanisms that underlie DLD.
The planned studies consist of learning paradigms conducted over multiple sessions that manipulate
sequential pattern learning in the spoken language and manual domains. Behavioral measures (e.g., of
production accuracy) will be combined with motor measures of oral and manual movement to evaluate when in
a learning sequence children acquire more stable patterns or are able to predict the element that comes next.
As a control, a separate cohort of children will engage in similar learning experiences, with the critical
difference being that the stimuli they are exposed to will not contain sequential patterns. The over-arching goal
of Aims 1 and 2 is to determine whether and how sequential pattern regularities incorporated in the input and in
production practice facilitate the acquisition and generalization of phonological regularities in words and signs
(Aim 1) and grammatical regularities in sentences and rhythmic musical sequences (Aim 2). In Aim 3,
modifications of the serial reaction time task will be used to determine how manipulations of sequential
patterns inf...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11051998
- **Project number:** 7R01DC016813-06
- **Recipient organization:** FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME
- **Principal Investigator:** Lisa Goffman
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $369,148
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2017-12-01 → 2025-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11051998

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11051998, Sequential Pattern Learning in Children with Developmental Language Disorder (7R01DC016813-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11051998. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*