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The child makes bizarre, tangential or inappropriate comments
The child has difficulty using and understanding non-literal language
Children who are judged as having at least two of the five statements applying to them will be considered eligible for inclusion in the study provided they also meet the following additional criteria:
Four- to seven-years-old at the time of the SLT’s assessment of eligibility
Have at least minimum levels of English (including any children with English as an additional language)
Not suffering with a hearing, visual or physical impairment severely affecting speech production
Once eligibility is confirmed, the research team will provide schools with participant information sheets to send to parents, one written for parents and one written in simpler terms for the child to share with their parent, as well as a consent form for parents to sign.
Teaching assistants trained to use E-PLAYS by participating SLTs
Once the children with SCI have been selected by SLTs and consent has been received from parents, the teaching assistants who are supporting these children will be invited to take part in the study and will receive written information sheets and consent forms at school from the research team.
Teachers who will complete pre-, post- and follow-up test measures relating to participating children
Teachers of recruited children will also be invited to take part in the study and will receive written information sheets and consent forms at school from the research team.
‘Partner children’ for focal children for the E-PLAYS intervention
‘Partner children’ will be suggested by teachers and teaching assistants in consultation with the relevant SLT. These children will be typically developing children without language disorders in the same class as the focal children. E-PLAYS comprises a series of dyadic computer games, some of which are played with an adult and some with the partner child. The importance of the role that peers can play in interventions has been the subject of a recent systematic review by ). These authors concluded that the inclusion of peers was one of the most promising strategies for intervention and resulted in positive impacts on social communication. An important aspect of peer-mediated interventions concerns the peers chosen to interact with focal children. These peers can provide appropriate language models and also an opportunity for children with SCI to practice newly acquired skills. In general, it has been reported that teachers children who are popular, prosocial, and self-confident as peer partners for interventions . Locke et al.’s longitudinal study  did not report any adverse outcomes for typically developing children as a result of participating in a peer-mediated intervention. An important feasibility question will concern recruitment of these children and willingness of parents to allow participation. Schools will send participant information sheets to parents of the peer partner children, one written for parents and one written in simpler terms for the child to share with their parent (as above for children with social communication impairment), as well as a consent form for parents to sign.
Parents of the children with SCI who will complete post-test measures for health economics.
Parents will be asked to consent to completion of these forms at the same time as they will be asked to provide consent on behalf of their children (b) above.
Whilst research assistants will pass on information sheets to participants via schools and request the return of consent forms, all participants will be given the option to contact the Chief Investigator in the event of additional questions. All participants will be free to withdraw at any time from the protocol treatment without giving reasons and without affecting their usual standard of care. The Chief Investigator will preserve the confidentiality of participants taking part in the study and is registered under the Data Protection Act.
Randomisation and allocation process
Participating children with SCI will be c