Speech and Language Therapy for the Enhancement of School Precursors in Children with Primary Language Impairment
Sara Rinaldi, Maria Padovan, Sara Saccarola, Alessia Bastianelli
The treatment of school prerequisites in children with primary language impairment (PLI) is common in clinical speech therapy services. The importance of this type of intervention is highlighted by studies investigating the continuity between PLI and specific learning disorders (SLDs) and some feasibility studies were found in the literature. This study investigates the feasibility of a speech and language therapy in pre-school-age children diagnosed with PLI aimed at enhancing school prerequisites. The intervention was carried out in small groups within a local public service. A significant improvement in almost all evaluated skills was observed, including metaphonological skills, narrative skills, auditory discrimination and rapid automatic naming, as well as skills related to phonological working memory. From the perspective of prevention of learning disabilities, it is important to improve school prerequisites through activities specifically designed for PLI children.
Keywords
Primary Language Impairment, Speech and language therapy, School precursors, Prevention.