Comparison of Conversational-Recasting and Imitative Procedures for Training Grammatical Structures in Children With Specific Language Impairment

Camarata, S.M., Nelson, K.E., & Camarata, M.N. (1994). Comparison of conversational-recasting and imitative procedures for training grammatical structures in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 37(6), 1414-1423.

This study compared the effectiveness of two language intervention strategies used to increase correct production of grammatical morphemes and complex sentences in children identified as specifically language impaired. A group of 21 children between the ages of 4:0 and 6:10 who met the criteria for SLI received targeted intervention strategies aimed at either imitation or conversation recasting in 24 intervention sessions over the course of 12 weeks. Each treatment session was divided equally between imitative treatment and recasting treatment, which were each aimed at different intervention targets. The order of the two interventions were counterbalanced across sessions.

Results compared children’s elicited or spontaneous productions in treatment, and in response to clinician input. Use of the conversational recast method resulted in fewer clinician presentations to achieve a greater number of correct spontaneous utterances compared to the imitation model. Additionally, significantly fewer sessions were required for spontaneous production within the conversation treatment versus the imitation treatment. Conversely, the imitative treatment resulted in a greater number of elicited but not spontaneous productions. The authors proposed that the success of the conversation recast treatment model might be due to the easy generalizability of the embedded targets as both treatment and future use of targets take place within actual conversation.

It was recommended that future research on this topic should include increased isolation of the two treatment methods. The results of this study suggest that use conversation recasting as a method of treatment when targeting grammatical morphemes and sentence structure in children identified with specific language impairment.

Blogger: Rosine Salazer