Language DevelopmentNCT06722261
Single Case Research Design: Deaf Children's Language Outcomes
A study testing Strategic and Interactive Signing Instruction in people with Language Development, run by The University of Tennessee, Knoxville at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
Eight deaf children in kindergarten to 3rd grade classes will be randomly selected for single case research. Their language skills will be monitored and assessed daily. Using a noncurrent multiple baseline design (Single Case Research Design or SCRD), Strategic and Interactive Signing Instruction (SISI) will be… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 4 to 12 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Language Development
- What is being tested?
- Strategic and Interactive Signing Instruction
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 8 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 1 Aug 2025to 30 Nov 2026
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 4 to 12 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Child
Who may be able to join
- Deaf children in kindergarten to 3rd grade class in a school for the deaf
Who cannot join
- Non-deaf children
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee, 37996
About this study
Eight deaf children in kindergarten to 3rd grade classes will be randomly selected for single case research. Their language skills will be monitored and assessed daily. Using a noncurrent multiple baseline design (Single Case Research Design or SCRD), Strategic and Interactive Signing Instruction (SISI) will be administered to two children in each of four classes.
Read the detailed description
A randomized selection method will be employed to select deaf children to participate in single case research. Two children will be selected from each age group between 5 and 10, making a total of eight students. Their language skills will be closely monitored and evaluated over the course of the year. Following the noncurrent multiple baseline design, in succession across 8 child participants in 4 classes, 2 SCRD participants in a class will begin receiving SISI while other children remain in the baseline for 3 weeks. Brainstorming occurs on Monday and the final sign language composition is shared on Friday. At the end of each day's intervention, child participants will independently narrate their expressed message recorded on videos. A score of 1 (applied correctly), 0.5 (applied but incorrectly), or 0 (omitted) will be given to their inclusion of target sign language skills, which is converted into percentages. If a child receives 100% on their target SL skill for 3 consecutive days (3 data points), Teacher 1 will select a new sign language skill to target. If the child receives 0% or 50% on their target sign language skill, Teacher 1 continues to focus on the same sign language skill.
- Conditions
- Language Development
- Being tested
- Strategic and Interactive Signing Instruction
- Keywords
- Sign Language, Deaf, Intervention
- Medical subject headings
- Sign Language
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Strategic and Interactive Signing InstructionBehavioural
Evidence-based instructional methods, grounded in cognitive, sociocultural, and linguistic theories, are applied to interventions that support sign language development in deaf children.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Single Case Research Design: Phase 1 | Experimental | A randomized selection method will be employed to select deaf children to participate in single case research. Two children will be selected from each age group between 5 and 10, making a total of eight students. Their language skills will be closely monitored and evaluated over the course of the year. Following the noncurrent multiple baseline design, in succession across 8 child participants in 4 classes, 2 Phase 1 participants in a class will begin receiving SISI while other children remain in the baseline for 3 to 9 weeks. Receives: Behavioral: Strategic and Interactive Signing Instruction |
| Single Case Research Design: Phase 2 | Experimental | A randomized selection method will be employed to select deaf children to participate in single case research. Two children will be selected from each age group between 5 and 10, making a total of eight students. Their language skills will be closely monitored and evaluated over the course of the year. Following the noncurrent multiple baseline design, in succession across 8 child participants in 4 classes, three weeks after Phase 1 participants have begun SISI, Phase 2 participants in a class will begin receiving SISI while other children remain in the baseline. Receives: Behavioral: Strategic and Interactive Signing Instruction |
| Single Case Research Design: Phase 3 | Experimental | A randomized selection method will be employed to select deaf children to participate in single case research. Two children will be selected from each age group between 5 and 10, making a total of eight students. Their language skills will be closely monitored and evaluated over the course of the year. Following the noncurrent multiple baseline design, in succession across 8 child participants in 4 classes, 2 SCRD participants in a class will begin receiving SISI while other children remain in the baseline for 3 weeks. Receives: Behavioral: Strategic and Interactive Signing Instruction |
| Single Case Research Design: Phase 4 | Experimental | A randomized selection method will be employed to select deaf children to participate in single case research. Two children will be selected from each age group between 5 and 10, making a total of eight students. Their language skills will be closely monitored and evaluated over the course of the year. Following the noncurrent multiple baseline design, in succession across 8 child participants in 4 classes, 2 SCRD participants in a class will begin receiving SISI while other children remain in the baseline for 3 weeks. Receives: Behavioral: Strategic and Interactive Signing Instruction |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Sign Language Skills
Deaf children's development of target sign language skills will be documented.
Measured: From enrollment to the end of treatment 9 academic months later.
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted9 Dec 2024
- Study start1 Aug 2025
- Primary completion30 Sep 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion30 Nov 2026 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Language DevelopmentStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Crossover
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 8 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06722261
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 478857
- Other IDs
- R21DC021024
- Status last verified
- Oct 2025
- First submitted
- 5 Dec 2024
- Last updated
- 24 Nov 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: Under a data-sharing agreement that is in compliance with the internal policy at UTK, non-identifying data can be shared with other researchers for a minimum of 10 years on the University of Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange (TRACE). The raw data consists of videos of teachers, which will not be shared to maintain confidentiality. The processed data will be in the form of percentages for individual teachers across an academic year documented in a .csv file (Excel). Center for Open Science Foundation (OSF) is a free and open source project management tool that supports researchers throughout their entire project lifecycle. OSF also allows people to locate this data through project names, author names, and study keywords.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 24 Nov 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Single Case Research Design: Deaf Children's Language Outcomes
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06722261
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 478857
- Conditions
- Language Development
- Keywords
- Sign Language, Deaf, Intervention
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Active, not recruiting
- Enrolment
- 8 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- The University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
- Study start
- 1 Aug 2025 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 30 Sep 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 30 Nov 2026 (estimated)
- First posted
- 9 Dec 2024 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Eight deaf children in kindergarten to 3rd grade classes will be randomly selected for single case research. Their language skills will be monitored and assessed daily. Using a noncurrent multiple baseline design (Single Case Research Design or SCRD), Strategic and Interactive Signing Instruction (SISI) will be administered to two children in each of four classes.
Detailed description
A randomized selection method will be employed to select deaf children to participate in single case research. Two children will be selected from each age group between 5 and 10, making a total of eight students. Their language skills will be closely monitored and evaluated over the course of the year. Following the noncurrent multiple baseline design, in succession across 8 child participants in 4 classes, 2 SCRD participants in a class will begin receiving SISI while other children remain in the baseline for 3 weeks. Brainstorming occurs on Monday and the final sign language composition is shared on Friday. At the end of each day's intervention, child participants will independently narrate their expressed message recorded on videos. A score of 1 (applied correctly), 0.5 (applied but incorrectly), or 0 (omitted) will be given to their inclusion of target sign language skills, which is converted into percentages. If a child receives 100% on their target SL skill for 3 consecutive days (3 data points), Teacher 1 will select a new sign language skill to target. If the child receives 0% or 50% on their target sign language skill, Teacher 1 continues to focus on the same sign language skill.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Crossover
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 4
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Single Case Research Design: Phase 1 | Experimental | Behavioral: Strategic and Interactive Signing InstructionA randomized selection method will be employed to select deaf children to participate in single case research. Two children will be selected from each age group between 5 and 10, making a total of eight students. Their language skills will be closely monitored and evaluated over the course of the year. Following the noncurrent multiple baseline design, in succession across 8 child participants in 4 classes, 2 Phase 1 participants in a class will begin receiving SISI while other children remain in the baseline for 3 to 9 weeks. |
| Single Case Research Design: Phase 2 | Experimental | Behavioral: Strategic and Interactive Signing InstructionA randomized selection method will be employed to select deaf children to participate in single case research. Two children will be selected from each age group between 5 and 10, making a total of eight students. Their language skills will be closely monitored and evaluated over the course of the year. Following the noncurrent multiple baseline design, in succession across 8 child participants in 4 classes, three weeks after Phase 1 participants have begun SISI, Phase 2 participants in a class will begin receiving SISI while other children remain in the baseline. |
| Single Case Research Design: Phase 3 | Experimental | Behavioral: Strategic and Interactive Signing InstructionA randomized selection method will be employed to select deaf children to participate in single case research. Two children will be selected from each age group between 5 and 10, making a total of eight students. Their language skills will be closely monitored and evaluated over the course of the year. Following the noncurrent multiple baseline design, in succession across 8 child participants in 4 classes, 2 SCRD participants in a class will begin receiving SISI while other children remain in the baseline for 3 weeks. |
| Single Case Research Design: Phase 4 | Experimental | Behavioral: Strategic and Interactive Signing InstructionA randomized selection method will be employed to select deaf children to participate in single case research. Two children will be selected from each age group between 5 and 10, making a total of eight students. Their language skills will be closely monitored and evaluated over the course of the year. Following the noncurrent multiple baseline design, in succession across 8 child participants in 4 classes, 2 SCRD participants in a class will begin receiving SISI while other children remain in the baseline for 3 weeks. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 4 to 12 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Child
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Deaf children in kindergarten to 3rd grade class in a school for the deaf
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Non-deaf children
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Strategic and Interactive Signing InstructionEvidence-based instructional methods, grounded in cognitive, sociocultural, and linguistic theories, are applied to interventions that support sign language development in deaf children. | Behavioural | Single Case Research Design: Phase 1, Single Case Research Design: Phase 2, Single Case Research Design: Phase 3, Single Case Research Design: Phase 4 |
Primary outcome
Sign Language Skills
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment 9 academic months later.
Deaf children's development of target sign language skills will be documented.
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 24 Nov 2025.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. Under a data-sharing agreement that is in compliance with the internal policy at UTK, non-identifying data can be shared with other researchers for a minimum of 10 years on the University of Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange (TRACE). The raw data consists of videos of teachers, which will not be shared to maintain confidentiality. The processed data will be in the form of percentages for individual teachers across an academic year documented in a .csv file (Excel). Center for Open Science Foundation (OSF) is a free and open source project management tool that supports researchers throughout their entire project lifecycle. OSF also allows people to locate this data through project names, author names, and study keywords.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Strategic and Interactive Signing Instruction in people with Language Development, run by The University of Tennessee, Knoxville at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: under way, not looking for participants, as of the sponsor's last update on 24 Nov 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Sign Language Skills (time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment 9 academic months later.). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 24 Nov 2025; AzTrials last refreshed its copy on 30 Oct 2026.