Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

Ohio State University

Code:

NCT06275815

Conditions

Developmental Language Disorder

Reading; Difficult

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 4 - 5

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Sit Together and Read (STAR)

Monetary Reward

Text Encouragement

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this study is to examine the impact of a caregiver-implemented shared reading program, Sit Together and Read (STAR), on children ages 4 to 5 with developmental language disorder. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • how much STAR impacts children's literacy skills in the short-term and long-term--up to two-years after completing STAR.
  • how do caregiver supports in the form of small monetary rewards or encouraging texts help caregivers to implement STAR at its intended frequency of sessions per week.

Caregiver participants will be assigned to either a control group or one of three STAR groups. Children's skills related to literacy and learning will be assessed before the intervention starts, at the end of the intervention, and every six months post-intervention for two years.

Researchers will determine the short term and long term impacts of STAR compared to the control group. Researchers will compare the three STAR conditions to see if the rewards or encouragement helped parents to follow through with completing more STAR sessions.

Conditions

Developmental Language Disorder

Reading; Difficult

Study ID

NCT06275815

Start date

Apr 10, 2024

Status verified date

Sep, 2025

Completion date

Jul 31, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jul 31, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 4 - 5

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • receiving or on waitlist for speech services
  • primary complaint of impaired language skills
  • receptive, expressive, or mixed language disorder
  • primarily communicates in English

Exclusion Criteria:

1. No known additional diagnoses causal of developmental language disorder including

1. autism spectrum disorder
2. hearing loss
3. severe intellectual disability
2. Is not attending or has completed Kindergarten

Study Design

Enrollment

320 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

no intervention: Untreated Control

Caregivers read to child as usual over 15 week period.

experimental: STAR Only

Typical implementation of Sit Together and Read (STAR)

experimental: STAR + Reward

Typical implementation of Sit Together and Read (STAR) plus additional small monetary incentives for caregivers

experimental: STAR + text encouragement

Typical implementation of Sit Together and Read (STAR) plus caregivers receive encouraging text messages

Interventions

Sit Together and Read (STAR)

Sit Together and Read (STAR) features an explicit, systematic sequence of 15 objectives that target four dimensions of print knowledge: print organization, print meaning, letters, and words. These objectives are explicitly targeted in the context of repeated adult-child shared reading sessions and are systematically cycled over an intervention period so the child has repeated opportunities for acquiring the targeted print objectives. STAR is a manualized 15-week intervention.

Monetary Reward

Caregiver receives a monetary reward of $0.50 for each session logged (up to 60 sessions) and audio-recording completed (up to 15 audio recordings).

Text Encouragement

Caregiver receives three tailored encouraging text messages specific to each week of the Sit Together and Read intervention.

Primary outcome measure

  • Preschool Word and Print Awareness (PWPA) [ Time Frame: Pretest before intervention and post-test immediately following intervention ]
  • Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS): Alphabet Knowledge and Name Writing [ Time Frame: Pretest before intervention and post-test immediately following intervention ]
  • The Reading House (THR) [ Time Frame: Pretest before intervention and post-test immediately following intervention ]
  • Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement- IV (WJ-IV): Word Attack and Letter-Word Identification [ Time Frame: Completed at all assessing timepoints. Pretest, immediate post-test, 6 month follow-up, 12 month follow-up, 18 month follow-up, 24 month follow up. ]
  • Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement- IV (WJ-IV): Spelling, Passage Comprehension [ Time Frame: 6 month follow-up, 12 month follow-up, 18 month follow-up, 24 month follow up. ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Jennifer M Bostic, MA

614-292-5715bostic.18@osu.edu

Laura M Justice, PhD

614-292-1045justice.57@osu.edu

Locations

Schoenbaum Family Center; Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy

Recruiting

Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43201

Contacts

Jennifer M Bostic, MA

614-292-5715bostic.18@osu.edu

Principal Investigator:

Laura M Justice, PhD

Nationwide Children's Hospital

Recruiting

Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43205

Contacts

Jamie B Boster, PhD

614-722-8756jamie.boster@nationwidechildrens.org

Principal Investigator:

Jamie B Boster, PhD, CCC-SLP

More Information

Sponsor

Ohio State University

Last update posted

Sep 30, 2025

Last verified

Sep, 2025

Keywords

  • Randomized Control Trial
  • Print Knowledge
  • Reading Outcomes
  • literacy
  • behavior-change strategies
  • early literacy

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Ohio State University on 2025-09-30.