Third person singular -s in typical development and specific language impairment: Input and neighbourhood density.

The purpose of this study was to examine factors promoting the use of third person singular -s by 23 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 21 children with typical development (TD). Relative proportions of third person singular -s forms in the input (input proportion) were calculated for 25 verbs based on data from an American English corpus of child-directed speech. Neighbourhood density values were also collected for these verbs. With previously collected probes of third person singular -s use for each of these verbs, we found with logistic regression that input proportion was positively associated with the likelihood of third person singular -s use for both groups. For neighbourhood density, we found that children with SLI were more likely to inflect sparse verbs than dense verbs; density was not significantly related to inflection use for TD children. We argue that as a result of their verbs' poorly encoded phonological representations, children with SLI were less able to inflect dense verbs than sparse verbs. We recommend that clinicians be aware of the effects of input proportion and neighbourhood density to ensure that assessments are representative and that treatment success is optimal.

Input sources of third person singular -s inconsistency in children with and without specific language impairment.

We tested four predictions based on the assumption that optional infinitives can be attributed to properties of the input whereby children inappropriately extract non-finite subject-verb sequences (e.g., the girl run) from larger input utterances (e.g., Does the girl run? Let's watch the girl run). Thirty children with specific language impairment (SLI) and thirty typically developing children heard novel and familiar verbs that appeared exclusively either in utterances containing non-finite subject-verb sequences or in simple sentences with the verb inflected for third person singular -s. Subsequent testing showed strong input effects, especially for the SLI group. The results provide support for input-based factors as significant contributors not only to the optional infinitive period in typical development, but also to the especially protracted optional infinitive period seen in SLI.

Identifying risk for specific language impairment with narrow and global measures of grammar.

In this study, we ask (1) whether measures of the developmental level of the tense/agreement morphemes used by children have diagnostic value, as has been found for tense/agreement consistency; and (2) whether global measures of accuracy can be applied to children four and five years of age. The spontaneous speech samples of 112 four- and five-year-olds with specific language impairment (SLI) or typical language were analyzed. Group differences were seen for the developmental level of the children's tense/agreement morpheme use, but diagnostic accuracy did not reach acceptable levels, in contrast to a measure of tense/agreement consistency applied to the same data. A global measure of grammatical accuracy was found to be useful, but more appropriate for screening children already viewed as at risk for language difficulties. These findings suggest that an extended period of tense/agreement inconsistency may be more central to SLI than alternative measures related to tense/agreement morphology.

Sources of Misinterpretation in the Input and Their Implications for Language Intervention With English-Speaking Children.

PURPOSE: In English and related languages, many preschool-age children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have difficulties using tense and agreement consistently. In this review article, we discuss two potential input-related sources of this difficulty and offer several possible strategies aimed at circumventing input obstacles. METHOD: We review a series of studies from English, supplemented by evidence from computational modeling and studies of other languages. Collectively, the studies show that instances of failures to express tense and agreement in DLD resemble portions of larger sentences in everyday input in which tense and agreement marking is appropriately absent. Furthermore, experimental studies show that children's use of tense and agreement can be swayed by manipulating details in fully grammatical input sentences. RESULTS: The available evidence points to two particular sources of input that may contribute to tense and agreement inconsistency. One source is the appearance of subject + nonfinite verb sequences that appear in auxiliary-fronted questions (e.g., Is [the girl running]? Does [the boy like popcorn]?) and as dependent clauses in more complex sentences (e.g., Help [her wash the dishes]; We saw [the frog hopping]). The other source is the frequent appearance of bare stems in the input, whether nonfinite (e.g., go in Make him go fast) or finite (e.g., go in I go, you go). CONCLUSIONS: Although the likely sources of input are a natural part of the language that all children hear, procedures that alter the distribution of this input might be used in the early stages of intervention. Subsequent steps can incorporate more explicit comprehension and production techniques. A variety of suggestions are offered.

Verb Vocabulary Supports Event Probability Use in Developmental Language Disorder.

PURPOSE: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) tend to interpret noncanonical sentences like passives using event probability (EP) information regardless of structure (e.g., by interpreting "The dog was chased by the squirrel" as "The dog chased the squirrel"). Verbs are a major source of EP information in adults and children with typical development (TD), who know that "chase" implies an unequal relationship among participants. Individuals with DLD have poor verb knowledge and verb-based sentence processing. Yet, they also appear to rely more on EP information than their peers. This paradox raises two questions: (a) How do children with DLD use verb-based EP information alongside other information in online passive sentence interpretation? (b) How does verb vocabulary knowledge support EP information use? METHOD: We created novel EP biases by showing animations of agents with consistent action tendencies (e.g., clumsy vs. helpful actions). We then used eye tracking to examine how this EP information was used during online passive sentence processing. Participants were 4- to 5-year-old children with DLD (n = 20) and same-age peers with TD (n = 20). RESULTS: In Experiment 1, children with DLD quickly integrated verb-based EP information with morphosyntax close to the verb but failed to do so with distant morphosyntax. In Experiment 2, the quality of children's sentence-specific verb vocabulary knowledge was positively associated with the use of EP information in both groups. CONCLUSION: Depending on the morphosyntactic context, children with DLD and TD used EP information differently, but verb vocabulary knowledge aided its use. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25491805.

Retrieval Practice and Word Learning by Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Does Expanding Retrieval Provide Additional Benefit?

PURPOSE: The word learning of preschool-age children with developmental language disorder (DLD) is improved when spaced retrieval practice is incorporated into the learning sessions. In this preregistered study, we compared two types of spacing-an expanding retrieval practice schedule and an equally spaced schedule-to determine if one of these approaches yields better word learning outcomes for the children. METHOD: Fourteen children with DLD aged 4-5 years and 14 same-age children with typical language development (TD) learned eight novel nouns over two sessions. Spacing for half of the novel words was expanded gradually during learning; for the remaining novel words, greater spacing remained at the same level throughout learning. Immediately after the second session and 1 week later, the children's recall of the words was tested. RESULTS: The children with TD recalled more novel words than the children with DLD, although this difference could be accounted for by differences in the children's standardized receptive vocabulary test scores. The two groups were similar in their ability to retain the words over 1 week. Initially, the shorter spacing in the expanding schedule resulted in greater retrieval success than the corresponding (longer spaced) retrieval trials in the equally spaced schedule. These early shorter spaced trials also seemed to benefit retrieval of the trials with greater spacing that immediately followed. However, as the learning period progressed, the accuracy levels for the two conditions converged and were likewise similar during final testing. CONCLUSION: We need a greater understanding of how and when short spacing can be helpful to children's word learning, with the recognition that early gains might give a misleading picture of the benefits that short spacing can provide to longer term retention. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25537696.

Clinical markers in Italian-speaking children with and without specific language impairment: a study of non-word and real word repetition as predictors of grammatical ability.

BACKGROUND: In many languages a weakness in non-word repetition serves as a useful clinical marker of specific language impairment (SLI) in children. However, recent work in Italian has shown that the repetition of real words may also have clinical utility. For young typically developing Italian children, real word repetition is more predictive of particular grammatical abilities than is non-word repetition. This finding is important because these particular grammatical abilities--the production of present-tense third-person plural inflections and direct-object clitic pronouns--are precisely those that are problematic for Italian-speaking children with SLI. Along with their grammatical requirements, these two morpheme types present a significant phonological/prosodic challenge for these children. AIMS: To replicate the findings with young typically developing Italian children and to determine whether real word repetition is also more predictive of the use of these two morpheme types than is non-word repetition in a group of Italian-speaking children with SLI. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Seventeen Italian-speaking children with SLI and 17 younger typically developing children matched for mean length of utterance participated in tasks of real word and non-word repetition as well as tasks requiring the production of direct-object clitic pronouns and present-tense third-person plural inflections. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Children with SLI were less accurate than their younger peers on all measures. Importantly, for the younger typically developing children, real word repetition explained a significant amount of variance in the use of third-person plural inflections and direct-object clitic pronouns. For the children with SLI, in contrast, non-word repetition was a significant predictor, whereas real word repetition was not a contributing factor. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: It is argued that in Italian SLI, the grammatical details showing the greatest weakness present phonological/prosodic obstacles as well as grammatical challenges to these children. Consequently, non-word repetition emerges as a predictor of these grammatical weaknesses in SLI, unlike the profile observed in typically developing Italian children.

Can Retrieval Practice Facilitate Verb Learning in Children With Developmental Language Disorder and Their Peers With Typical Language Development?

PURPOSE: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have well-documented verb learning difficulties. In this study, we asked whether the inclusion of retrieval practice during the learning period would facilitate these children's verb learning relative to a similar procedure that provided no retrieval opportunities. METHOD: Eleven children with DLD (M age = 60.09 months) and 12 children with typical language development (TD; M age = 59.92 months) learned four novel verbs in a repeated spaced retrieval (RSR) condition and four novel verbs in a repeated study (RS) condition. The words in the two conditions were heard an equal number of times, in the context of video-recorded actors performing novel actions. RESULTS: Recall testing immediately after the learning period and 1 week later revealed greater recall for novel verbs in the RSR condition than for novel verbs in the RS condition. This was true for both groups, and for immediate as well as 1-week testing. The RSR advantage remained when children had to recall the novel verbs while watching new actors perform the novel actions. However, when tested in contexts requiring the children to inflect the novel verbs with -ing for the first time, the children with DLD were much less likely to do so than their peers with TD. Even words in the RSR condition were only inconsistently inflected. CONCLUSIONS: Retrieval practice provides benefits to verb learning-an important finding given the challenges that verbs present to children with DLD. However, these benefits do not appear to automatically translate to the process of adding inflections to newly learned verbs but rather appear to be limited to the operations of learning the verbs' phonetic forms and mapping these forms onto associated actions.

A cross-linguistic study of real-word and non-word repetition as predictors of grammatical competence in children with typical language development.

BACKGROUND: Although relationships among non-word repetition, real-word repetition and grammatical ability have been documented, it is important to study whether the specific nature of these relationships is tied to the characteristics of a given language. AIMS: The aim of this study is to explore the potential cross-linguistic differences (Italian and English) in the relationship among non-word repetition, real-word repetition, and grammatical ability in three-and four-year-old children with typical language development. METHODS & PROCEDURES: To reach this goal, two repetition tasks (one real-word list and one non-word list for each language) were used. In Italian the grammatical categories were the third person plural inflection and the direct-object clitic pronouns, while in English they were the third person singular present tense inflection and the past tense in regular and irregular forms. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: A cross-linguistic comparison showed that in both Italian and English, non-word repetition was a significant predictor of grammatical ability. However, performance on real-word repetition explained children's grammatical ability in Italian but not in English. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Abilities underlying non-word repetition performance (e.g., the processing and/or storage of phonological material) play an important role in the development of children's grammatical abilities in both languages. Lexical ability (indexed by real-word repetition) showed a close relationship to grammatical ability in Italian but not in English. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of cross-linguistic differences, genetic research, clinical intervention and methodological issues.

Input Distribution Influences Degree of Auxiliary Use by Children with Specific Language Impairment.

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) show a protracted period of inconsistent use of tense/agreement morphemes. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether this inconsistent use could be attributed to the children's misinterpretations of particular syntactic structures in the input. In Study 1, preschool-aged children with SLI and typically developing peers heard sentences containing novel verbs preceded by auxiliary was or sentences in which the novel verb formed part of a nonfinite subject-verb sequence within a larger syntactic structure (e.g., We saw the dog relling). The children were then tested on their use of the novel verbs in contexts that obligated use of auxiliary is. The children with SLI were less accurate than their peers and more likely to produce the novel verb without is if the verb had been heard in a nonfinite subject-verb sequence. In Study 2, children with SLI and typically developing peers were tested on their comprehension of sentences such as The cow sees the horse eating. The children with SLI were less accurate than their peers and were disproportionately influenced by the nonfinite subject-verb clause at the end of the sentence. We interpret these findings within the framework of construction learning.

Word-learning trajectories influence long-term recall in children with developmental language disorder and typical development.

INTRODUCTION: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have difficulties learning words. However, the severity of these difficulties can be reduced through word learning procedures that incorporate repeated spaced retrieval (RSR). Previous studies have shown positive outcomes with RSR but we still know very little about how learning unfolds with this procedure. In this study, we focus on the process of learning under RSR. METHODS: We analyze the learning data from children with DLD and with typical development (TD) from three recent studies using RSR. We fit growth curves to the trial-by-trial learning data for immediate and spaced retrieval trials and use the characteristics of children's individual word-learning trajectories to predict their long-term recall. RESULTS: We found that children in both groups demonstrated linear growth during learning, despite breaks within and across days. Success on early immediate retrieval trials promoted success on subsequent spaced retrieval trials. Children's trial-by-trial RSR learning trajectories were related to their long-term recall: both cumulative success and growth over time on the spaced retrieval trials positively predicted long-term recall. Consecutive success was also highly correlated with growth over time. CONCLUSIONS: Repeated spaced retrieval supplemented with immediate retrieval trials during learning promotes long-term recall.

The Neural Underpinnings of Processing Newly Taught Semantic Information: The Role of Retrieval Practice.

Purpose Recent behavioral studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of implementing retrieval practice into learning tasks for children. Such approaches have revealed that repeated spaced retrieval (RSR) is particularly effective in promoting children's learning of word form and meaning information. This study further examines how retrieval practice enhances learning of word meaning information at the behavioral and neural levels. Method Twenty typically developing preschool children were taught novel words using an RSR learning schedule for some words and an immediate retrieval (IR) learning schedule for other words. In addition to the label, children were taught two arbitrary semantic features for each item. Following the teaching phase, children's learning was tested using recall tests. In addition, during the 1-week follow-up, children were presented with pictures and an auditory sentence that correctly labeled the item but stated correct or incorrect semantic information. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were time locked to the onset of the words noting the semantic feature. Children provided verbal judgments of whether the semantic feature was correctly paired with the item. Results Children recalled more labels and semantic features for items that had been taught in the RSR learning schedule relative to the IR learning schedule. ERPs also differentiated the learning schedules. Mismatching label-meaning pairings elicited an N400 and late positive component (LPC) for both learning conditions; however, mismatching RSR pairs elicited an N400 with an earlier onset and an LPC with a longer duration, relative to IR mismatching label-meaning pairings. These ERP timing differences indicated that the children were more efficient in processing words that were taught in the RSR schedule relative to the IR learning schedule. Conclusions Spaced retrieval practice promotes learning of both word form and meaning information. The findings lay the necessary groundwork for better understanding of processing newly learned semantic information in preschool children. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.15063060.

Novel Adjective Processing in Preschool Children: Evidence From Event-Related Brain Potentials.

Purpose Recent findings in preschool children indicated novel adjective recall was enhanced when learned using repeated retrieval with contextual reinstatement (RRCR) compared to repeated study (RS). Recall was similar for learned pictures used during training and new (generalized) pictures with the same adjective features. The current study compared the effects of learning method and learned/generalized pictures on the neural processes mediating the recognition of novel adjectives. Method Twenty typically developing children aged 4;6-5;11 (years;months) learned four novel adjectives, two using RRCR and two using RS. Five-minute and 1-week tests assessed adjective recall using learned and generalized pictures. Also, at the 1-week visit, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to assess children's processing of learned/generalized pictures, followed by naturally spoken novel adjectives in a match-mismatch paradigm. Results Naming recall and match-mismatch judgment accuracy were similar for the RS and RRCR conditions and across learned/generalized pictures. However, ERPs revealed more reliable condition effects in the phonological mapping negativity, indexing phonological expectations, and the late positive component, indexing semantic reanalysis, for the adjectives learned in the RRCR relative to the RS condition. Unfamiliar pictures (generalized) elicited larger amplitude N300 and N400 components relative to learned pictures. Conclusions Although behavioral accuracy measures suggest similar effects of the RS and RRCR learning conditions, subtle differences in the ERPs underlying novel adjective processing indicate advantages of RRCR for phonological processing and semantic reanalysis. While children readily generalized the novel adjectives, ERPs revealed greater cognitive resources for processing unfamiliar compared to learned pictures of the novel adjective characteristics. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13683214.

A multi-study examination of the role of repeated spaced retrieval in the word learning of children with developmental language disorder.

BACKGROUND: Many children with developmental language disorders (DLD) have well-documented weaknesses in vocabulary. In recent years, investigators have explored the nature of these weaknesses through the use of novel word learning paradigms. These studies have begun to uncover specific areas of difficulty and have provided hints about possible intervention strategies that might help these children learn words more accurately and efficiently. Among the studies of this type are those that incorporate repeated spaced retrieval activities in the learning procedures. METHODS: In this study, we examined the data from four of these studies that employed the same types of participants (4- and 5-year-old children with DLD and same-age children with typical language development), research design, and outcome measures. The studies differed primarily in the type of learning condition that was being compared to a spaced retrieval condition. A mixed-effects modeling framework was used, enabling the data from the four studies and different outcome measures to be aggregated. RESULTS: Across the studies, more words in the repeated spaced retrieval condition were recalled than those in the comparison conditions. This was true regardless of outcome measure. Children with typical language development recalled more words than the children with DLD. Both groups benefited from spaced retrieval, though effects were larger for the group with DLD. Children recalled words as accurately 1 week after learning as they did at the 5-min mark; the two groups were essentially identical in this respect. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the findings support the continued refinement of these types of repeated spaced retrieval procedures, as they may have potential to serve as effective approaches to intervention.

Tense and aspect in sentence interpretation by children with specific language impairment.

The aim of this study was to determine whether children with specific language impairment (SLI) are sensitive to completion cues in their comprehension of tense. In two experiments, children with SLI (ages 4 ; 1 to 6 ; 4) and typically developing (TD) children (ages 3 ; 5 to 6 ; 5) participated in a sentence-to-scene matching task adapted from Wagner (2001). Sentences were in either present or past progressive and used telic predicates. Actions were performed twice in succession; the action was either completed or not completed in the first instance. In both experiments, the children with SLI were less accurate than the TD children, showing more difficulty with past than present progressive, regardless of completion cues. The TD children were less accurate with past than present progressive requests only when the past actions were incomplete. These findings suggest that children with SLI may be relatively insensitive to cues pertaining to event completion in past tense contexts.

Retrieval Practice and Word Learning in Children With Specific Language Impairment and Their Typically Developing Peers.

Purpose In this article, we review the role of retrieval practice on the word learning and retention of children with specific language impairment (SLI). Method Following a brief review of earlier findings on word learning in children with SLI and the assumptions behind retrieval practice, four experiments are described that compared novel words learned in a repeated spaced retrieval condition and those learned in either a repeated study condition or a repeated immediate retrieval condition. Preschool-age children with SLI and their same-age peers with typical language development were the participants in all experiments. The effects of repeated spaced retrieval were assessed through measures of recall of word form and meaning and, receptively, through both picture-pointing and electrophysiological measures. Results Repeated spaced retrieval resulted in greater recall of word form and meaning across the experiments. This advantage was seen not only for word-picture pairs used during the learning period but also when generalization of the word to new pictures was required. Receptive testing through picture pointing showed similar results, though in some experiments, ceiling effects rendered this measure less sensitive to differences. An alternative receptive measure-the N400 elicited during picture-word mismatches-showed evidence at the neural level favoring repeated spaced retrieval. The advantages of repeated spaced retrieval were seen in both children with SLI and their typically developing age mates. Conclusion Future efforts are warranted to refine and extend the experiments reviewed here. If these efforts prove successful, procedures that incorporate repeated spaced retrieval into more naturalistic clinical and educational activities might be an appropriate next step. Presentation Video https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13063730.

After Initial Retrieval Practice, More Retrieval Produces Better Retention Than More Study in the Word Learning of Children With Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) often have difficulty with word learning. Recent studies have shown that incorporating retrieval practice provides a significant benefit to this learning. However, we have not yet discovered the best balance between the amount of retrieval and the amount of study (hearing the word in the presence of the referent) that is provided. In this investigation, we compared a word learning procedure using more retrieval and less study with a procedure that used more study and less retrieval. Method Participants were 13 children with DLD and 13 same-age peers with typical language development (TD). Both groups ranged in age from 4 to 6 years. The children learned two sets of novel words, with each set taught in two sessions. During an initial criterion period, the children had the opportunity to retrieve all of the words. Following this period, the words were either retrieved without further study or studied without additional retrieval. Recall and recognition testing immediately followed the second learning session and was repeated 1 week later. Testing assessed the children's retention of both the word forms and their meanings. Results Better recall both immediately after learning and after 1 week was seen for the more retrieval/less study condition. This was seen for both groups of children for word form recall and for children with DLD for meaning. Group differences were not found. Conclusion This study served as a stringent test of the benefits of retrieval to children's word learning. Continued retrieval after initial retrieval practice appeared to be helpful even when further study was discontinued and when the comparison study condition had also provided retrieval practice in the initial stages. Further refinement of retrieval procedures might lead to the development of useful clinical tools to promote word learning.

Adjective Learning in Young Typically Developing Children and Children With Developmental Language Disorder: A Retrieval-Based Approach.

Purpose There are strong retention benefits when learners frequently test themselves during the learning period. This practice of repeated retrieval has recently been applied successfully to children's word learning. In this study, we apply a repeated retrieval procedure to the learning of novel adjectives by preschool-age children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and their typically developing (TD) peers. We ask whether the benefits of retrieval extend to children's ability to apply the novel adjectives to newly introduced objects sharing the same characteristics as the objects used during the learning period. Method Fourteen children with DLD (M age = 62.64 months) and 13 TD children (M = 62.54 months) learned novel adjectives in 2 sessions. For each child, half of the adjectives were learned in a repeated spaced retrieval condition, and half were learned in a repeated study-only condition. Recall was assessed immediately after the second learning session and 1 week later. A recognition test was also administered at the 1-week mark. Results On the recall tests, for both groups of children, recall was better for adjectives learned in the repeated spaced retrieval condition. Adjectives learned by the 2nd day were retained 1 week later. Every adjective correctly applied to an object used during the learning period was also extended accurately to new objects with the same characteristics. On these recall tests, the children with DLD did not differ from the TD group in the number of items recalled, though their phonetic accuracy was lower. On the recognition test, the DLD group showed greater accuracy for adjectives that had been learned in the repeated spaced retrieval condition than for those learned in the repeated study condition, whereas the TD group performed at high levels in both conditions. Conclusion Repeated spaced retrieval appears to provide an effective boost to word learning. Because its benefits are seen even when a word must be extended to new objects, the application of this procedure seems well suited for learning new language material rather than being limited to item-specific memorization.

Retrieval-Based Word Learning in Young Typically Developing Children and Children With Developmental Language Disorder I: The Benefits of Repeated Retrieval.

Purpose Scholars have long noted that retention improves significantly when learners frequently test themselves on the new material rather than engage in continuous study with no intermittent testing. In this study, we apply the notion of repeated testing or retrieval to the process of word learning in preschool-age children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). Method Novel words and their meanings were taught to 10 children with DLD and 10 typically developing (TD) children matched on age (DLD, M = 63.4 months; TD, M = 63.2 months). Recall was assessed immediately after the 2nd learning session and then again 1 week later. Results Both groups showed better retention when they had attempted to retrieve the words during the learning period than when they had simply listened to and studied the words paired with their referents. Relative to their TD peers, the children with DLD seemed to be weaker in their encoding, but these children's retention over a 1-week period was indistinguishable from that of their age mates. Conclusion Word learning activities that include opportunities for repeated retrieval appear to significantly benefit retention relative to more traditional word learning activities. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7927046.

Retrieval-Based Word Learning in Young Typically Developing Children and Children With Development Language Disorder II: A Comparison of Retrieval Schedules.

Purpose Retrieval practice has been found to be a powerful strategy to enhance long-term retention of new information; however, the utility of retrieval practice when teaching young children new words is largely unknown, and even less is known for young children with language impairments. The current study examined the effect of 2 different retrieval schedules on word learning at both the behavioral and neural levels. Method Participants included 16 typically developing children ( M TD = 61.58 months) and 16 children with developmental language disorder ( M DLD = 59.60 months). Children participated in novel word learning sessions in which the spacing of retrieval practice was manipulated: Some words were retrieved only after other words had been presented (i.e., repeated retrieval that required contextual reinstatement [RRCR]); others were taught using an immediate retrieval schedule. In Experiment 1, children's recall of the novel word labels and their meanings was tested after a 5-min delay and a 1-week delay. In Experiment 2, event-related brain potentials were obtained from a match-mismatch task utilizing the novel word stimuli. Results Experiment 1 findings revealed that children were able to label referents and to retain the novel words more successfully if the words were taught in the RRCR learning condition. Experiment 2 findings revealed that mismatching picture-word pairings elicited a robust N400 event-related brain potential only for words that were taught in the RRCR condition. In addition, children were more accurate in identifying picture-word matches and mismatches for words taught in the RRCR condition, relative to the immediate retrieval condition. Conclusions Retrieval practice that requires contextual reinstatement through spacing results in enhanced word learning and long-term retention of words. Both typically developing children and children with developmental language disorder benefit from this type of retrieval procedure. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7927112.