Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine whether a complexity-based treatment approach improves the production of BE verb structures in a child with developmental language disorder (DLD). One school-age child with morphosyntactic deficits participated in a single-case AB experimental design. Treatment targeted a complex structure (auxiliary BE questions), and performance was measured using experimental probes, a narrative language sample, and the Test of Early Grammatical Impairment (TEGI). Results indicate a functional relationship between treatment and increased accuracy of the treated structure, with a medium effect size (τ = .695, p = .019). In addition, the participant demonstrated generalization to two untreated structures, including auxiliary BE sentences and copula BE questions, but not copula BE sentences. Distal generalization findings indicated improvements in overall grammatical measures (e.g., mean length of utterance and percent grammatical utterances) alongside improvements on treated and untreated BE verb structures in some naturalistic contexts. These findings support the use of a complexity-based approach to facilitate morphosyntactic development and promote generalization in children with DLD. Continued replication is needed to better understand individual variability and treatment responsiveness.

Degree

MS

College and Department

David O. McKay School of Education; Communication Disorders

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2026-06-10

Document Type

Thesis

Keywords

complexity approach, morphosyntax, developmental language disorder

Language

english

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