Oral language skills can be said to provide the foundation of formal schooling. The ability to comprehend and use language is fundamental for acquiring literacy and more generally for educational success. The quality of your language skills will to a large degree determine how well you do at school (e.g., (Foorman, Koon, Petscher, Mitchell & Truckenmiller, 2015) and how able you are to participate in society and work life (Heckman, 2000). There are huge variations between children’s language skills and many children are experiencing difficulties with language comprehension.
The CREATE team has been, and are, heavily involved in several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) trying improve language skills among children that struggle with language comprehension. In this talk, we will give an overview over the results of these trails, discuss them, point at weaknesses and reflect on what is needed to put the field forward.