Cognitive Processing

Introduction: This study measures the results of three specific treatment programs on language and cognitive processing outcomes in school aged children who are bilingual and diagnosed with specific or primary language impairment (PLI). The treatment programs are as followed: 1) non-linguistic cognitive processing treatment, 2) English language treatment, 3) Bilingual treatment. All three treatment programs were given by a Speech-Language Pathologist and administered by means of computer-based and interactive approaches. Each participant was measured by pre- and post-tests in both Spanish and English. In general, empirical evidence is lacking for treatment protocols for bilingual children. English-only treatment has not been concluded as the
best treatment for bilingual children with SLI. Only two former studies were found that researched the effects of treatment in bilingual children with PLI (Perozzi & Sanchez 1992; Restrepo et al., 2013). Both studies focused only on vocabulary, however, it was found that bilingual treatment programs in younger children are beneficial. The results and efficacy of language treatment programs that use other strategies and other language domains remains undiscovered. This study aims to determine if each of the three treatment programs results in progress in skill areas targeted. The second aim of this study is to determine whether treatment effects are generalized to other skills that are not specifically targeted by the treatment program.

Method: The participants in this study consisted of 59 bilingual school-aged children with PLI.
There were 50 boys and 9 girls ranging from ages five to eleven. Spanish, English, and non-linguistic cognitive processing skills were measured by means of pre- and post-treatment testing. The participants were divided into three groups which received three different treatment strategies. A fourth group (the control group) did not receive a special treatment program and had no contact with study personnel apart from pre and post testing sessions. Group one received nonlinguistic Cognitive processing treatment which contained three computer games from the Locutour Multimedia Attention and Memory Volume 2 (Scarry- Larkin & Price, 2007). These activities targeted processing speed and sustained elective attention. Group two received traditional English treatment. Intervention targeted vocabulary, morpho-syntactic constructions, and auditory comprehension by means of computer games and interactive activities. Group three received Spanish-English bilingual treatment. This treatment program utilized interactive activities in Spanish and computer activities in Spanish and English. Outcomes were collected by re-testing the participants on The Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test- Bilingual Edition (EOW-W; Brownell, 2000a) and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals- Fourth Edition (CELF-4E; Semel et al.,
2003).

Results: Treatment effects were analyzed by scores of norm-referenced language tests and parent interviews.
The first type of analyses used to determine treatment efficacy was matched-pairs t tests. This was used to analyze within-group measurements between pre to post-testing. The second type of analyses addressed relative efficacy. Statistical significance was found in five comparisons for the nonlinguistic cognitive processing treatment group. The results from this groups findings suggests small improvements in English language skills, medium improvements in Spanish, and large improvements in processing speed. For English treatment groups, seven comparisons were found to achieve statistical significance. These findings indicate that this specific type of treatment led to large improvements in English vocabulary, and medium improvements in overall language skill and nonlinguistic cognitive processing skills. Nine comparisons reached statistical significance for the bilingual treatment group. Although there was significant change found for this group, it was not the change expected. Results discovered that result time for nonlinguistic cognitive treatment tasks were 60 milliseconds slower than pretesting scores. Results indicate that treatment targeting nonlinguistic cognitive processing skills can positively effect language skills in children with
PLI.

Discussion: Results provide guidance for Speech-Language Pathologist working with bilingual children with PLI. For instance, data concluded that computer and interactive treatment positively effects English language skills to a significant degree. Addressing cognitive processing skills can also lead to an increase in language. It is gathered that bilingual children with PLI would most benefit from treatments incorporating all three treatment strategies used in this study. It is important to note that results may vary across family home-life due to certain exposure and involvement of parents. Overall, the study maintained consistency across subjects and accurately answered the desired questions.