03/12/25 Live Event – Combining Science Activities with Language Intervention for Children With DLD

The views, information, and opinions expressed by guest speakers during conferences and masterclasses are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent those of Bilinguistics and its employees.

Lindsey Hiebert, PhD, CCC-SLP is an Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University. She earned a PhD in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Texas at Dallas and completed postdoctoral studies at the University of Delaware. Her research interests include dual language development, disorders, and intervention in preschool and school-age children, stemming from her extensive clinical work with culturally and linguistically diverse populations. Her publications to date include longitudinal observations of language and reading development in Spanish-English bilingual children across three or more years, and language intervention paired with science curriculum.

Financial: Dr. Lindsey Hiebert, is receiving an honorarium for this presentation.

Non-financial – No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.

Developmental language disorder (DLD) affects monolingual and bilingual children equally (Bishop, 2017). However, access to services in the language(s) spoken is not equitable (Davidson et al., 2022). Furthermore, there is a lack of evidence-based research on DLD in bilingual children to guide speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in providing effective language intervention. One thing research has established, however, is that bilingual children with DLD respond best to intervention when they are treated in both of their languages (Ebert et al., 2014).

This presentation will give participants information on strategies to bring language intervention to bilingual children with DLD using science activities based on pre-existing curriculums. The benefits of using science curriculum for language intervention with bilingual children will be discussed in the context of language exposure and learning. Randomized clinical trial and implementation studies that Dr. Hiebert has been involved with will be presented as evidence of effectiveness and examples of how to access and use science activities during intervention.

Study one demonstrates the benefits monolingual English-speaking children with DLD (ages 4-7) experienced as part of pairing science curriculum with grammar or vocabulary intervention. Language gains were found for these children when the intervention was presented via teletherapy (Hiebert et al., 2025). This finding matched prior work with the same science curriculum delivered in person. Therapy techniques for study one will be explained. Study two investigates how caregivers can explore science along with their typically developing children (age 3-5) with support from home educators and weekly lesson plans.

The results of study two showed that the language children are exposed to by their caregivers is more complex when science activities are added to play for monolingual and bilingual children (Hiebert et al., in preparation). Science curriculum for study two is available in English and Spanish for free. The science curriculum, vocabulary, and strategies from study two will be presented. Study three will explore the potential of training Spanish-speaking caregivers to implement language (vocabulary) intervention with the support of SLPs and weekly lesson plans from the science curriculum used in study two.

The studies described do not provide evidence that will always translate into clinical practice, but this information can be useful to SLPs who are willing and able to create their own evidence. Participants will be given strategies to collect their own data via example measures and single subject design, when evidence-based research is not yet available.

Participants will be able to:
● Describe techniques for teaching vocabulary and grammar during science activities.
● List two benefits science activities may have on child language.
● Choose goals and activities to pair science and language intervention.
● Describe two techniques to collect data to measure intervention success.

Time-Ordered Agenda
5 minutes-Introductions and disclosures
10 minutes-Background information on benefits of science for children with DLD
15 minutes-Results our teletherapy with science, vocabulary, and grammar intervention
10 minutes-Preliminary findings with PEEP science activities and child language exposure
15 minutes-Ways to apply science and language activities for children with DLD
10 minutes-Ways to collect data on language goals
5 minutes-Closing
15 minutes-Moderated question and answer session