The Effects of Inclusive Language Intervention for Children With Developmental Language Disorders: A Feasibility Study

School-based language intervention is overwhelmingly delivered in small groups outside of the general education classroom. However, legal, theoretical, clinical, and empirical considerations suggest that inclusion (i.e., classroom-based intervention) may be a supportive service delivery model for children with developmental language disorder (DLD). We present feasibility and implementation data indicating that an inclusion model can be successfully implemented by school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to support children with DLD.

Using a correlational pretest-posttest within-subject research design, this study examined the language gain (i.e., global language, vocabulary, grammar, and narrative language) of seven children (M_age = 8.1 years) with DLD across five second-grade classrooms associated with 10 weeks of inclusive SLP-led language intervention. Measures of teacher language complexity were collected to assess associations with inclusive interventions. Finally, implementation data were collected from teachers and SLPs.

Following the inclusive intervention, children with DLD demonstrated statistically significant gains in global expressive and receptive language with medium-to-large treatment effects for vocabulary and grammar skills. Narrative language gains were small and not significant. Teacher language complexity was not significantly associated with intervention outcomes. Implementation outcomes suggest that inclusive interventions are acceptable, appropriate, and feasible for this population.

This feasibility study provides preliminary evidence that inclusive language interventions are a promising service delivery model in schools. SLPs are encouraged to consider inclusive models characterized by classroom-based and curriculum-aligned interventions to support the language needs of children with DLD. Future research is needed to establish efficacy of inclusive models for children with DLD.