Employing mobile technology to improve language skills of young students with language-based disabilities

This exploratory study investigated the effects of a language building iPad application on the language skills (i.e., receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, and sentence formation) of young students with language-based disabilities. The study utilized a pre-test-post-test control group design. Students in the treatment group used the iPad language building application, Language Builder, for 30 minutes a day. Participants were 31 first-grade to third-grade students with identified language-based disabilities. Students were assigned to two groups for the 8-week intervention. Data indicated that students in the treatment group made significantly greater gains in the area of sentence formation than the control group. Results revealed no significant difference between the two groups in the areas of expressive and receptive vocabulary. A short intervention of using Language Builder via the iPad may increase the sentence formation skills of young students with language delays. Additionally, discussion regarding the usefulness of iPad applications in education is presented.