Literacy Instruction Through Media for Everyone (LIME)

The Ohio State University

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Media Effects on Literacy Gains in Young Children

Treatments: Behavioral: Storybook intervention; Behavioral: Media instruction

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT06796790

R01HD114687 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

AWD - 118236

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this study is to determine whether an intervention to support caregivers in engaging with their children while using educational media together can improve children's early literacy skills, compared to an aligned shared book reading intervention and to no intervention. Given that early literacy skills predict children's later academic learning, this home intervention, which aims to shape the communication patterns surrounding a common, family-friendly activity, has the potential to positively influence the trajectory of low income children's academic success. The investigators propose that amedia based activity will reduce barriers and increase adherence therefore increasing literacy skills over time.

Full description

The proposed study draws upon an implementation science framework (Nilsen, 2015) to determine the extent to which a media-based caregiver-led intervention improves caregiver adherence and in turn children's early literacy development relative to a shared reading intervention. Caregiver-implemented shared reading interventions represent the 'current standard practice' for addressing early literacy needs, yet many caregivers cannot implement this practice with adequate adherence. This is particularly true for low-socioeconomic status families, in which shared reading may not be a conventional activity and barriers inhibit its use. The investigators propose-and test-that a media-based intervention reduces barriers to intervention implementation and increases social validity, leading to higher levels of adherence and, via mediation, enhanced child literacy outcomes. To establish this causal chain, the investigators mplement a media-based early literacy intervention, compare it to a highly aligned shared reading intervention, and measure (1) social validity of the intervention to test whether use of media circumvents barriers, (2) caregiver adherence (i.e., frequency and dosage), and (3) child early literacy skills gains immediately and over time. As the first causally interpretable study to compare media and shared reading as caregiver-led interventions, the proposed project will identify strategies to improve adherence in home-based interventions and inform development of interventions to improve school readiness among low-SES children.

Enrollment: 450 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 42 to 57 months old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• between 42 and 57 months at enrollment
• minimally verbal in English
• caregiver sufficiently proficient in English
• does not have severe intellectual disability

Exclusion criteria

• under 42 months
• over 57 months at enrollment
• severe intellectual disability
• not proficient in English

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

---

450 participants in 3 patient groups

Media instruction

Experimental group

Description:

Caregivers will be asked to implement joint media sessions with their child four times per week for 12 weeks using lightly adapted versions of the commercially-available Super Why! program, which focuses on early literacy skills, including alphabet knowledge, rhyming, spelling, and print concepts. Sessions are anticipated to last 20 minutes. Caregivers will be trained by researchers on explicit strategies to use to promote children's learning. Caregivers will digitally log every session and audio record 1 session each week.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Media instruction

Storybook instruction

Active Comparator group

Description:

Caregivers will be asked to implement joint storybook reading sessions with their child four times per week for 12 weeks using adapted versions of the commercially -available Super-Why! storybooks, which focus on early literacy skills including alphabet knowledge, rhyming, spelling, and print concepts. Sessions are anticipated to last 20 minutes. Caregivers will be trained by researchers on explicit strategies to use to promote children's learning. Caregivers will digitally log every session and audio record 1 session each week.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Storybook intervention

Business-as-usual control

No Intervention group

Description:

Caregivers will be asked to log any joint learning activities they engage in with their child but will not be provided with any specific materials or instructions.