This exploratory study was designed to evaluate functionallanguage changes during and after treatment with language interventionsoftware. Two children with language impairments received FastForWord (FFW; Scientific Learning Corporation, 1997), and twoother children received a bundle of intervention programs publishedby Laureate Learning Systems (LLS). The children received interventionfor 1 hour and 40 minutes per day for 20 days (4 weeks). Treatmentwas delivered according to a multiple-probe design in whichone child was enrolled in Fast FFW immediately after a baselinephase. Another child remained in an extended baseline phasebefore beginning FFW. The design was replicated for the bundleof LLS programs. The children with extended baselines were identicaltwins. Progress was measured by gains on the Oral and WrittenLanguage scales (OWLS) and by visual and mathematical examinationof trends for language sample measures.

All four children madeclinically significant gains (posttest scores outside the 95%confidence interval of the pretest scores) on the OWLS. Twochildren who received the LLS software and one child who receivedFFW software made clinically significant gains on mean lengthof utterance in morphemes (MLU), but only one child, who receivedtreatment with the LLS software, had fewer grammatical errorsafter treatment. The three children with improved MLU also produceda higher proportion of utterances with mazes. Measures of languagecontent (percent of response errors) and language use (percentageof assertive utterances) were not informative due to high variabilityand floor effects. The similarity of the treatment effects (especiallyin the case of the identical twins) was surprising since FFWand the bundle of LLS programs targeted different levels oflanguage, used different types of auditory stimuli, and weredesigned to promote different kinds of learning.