Language Disorder in Childhood: the Contribution of Oskar Schindler, the Current Situation, and Future Challenges
Silvia Piazzalunga, Elisabetta Genovese, Renata Salvadorini
This paper aims to review the main scientific and dissemination activities that Oskar Schindler led concerning the assessment and intervention of language disorders in childhood. The overview shows some of his most significant scientific publications, his commitment to the national and international scientific community, as well as his clinical practice approach based on observation and quantification. The review highlights that Oskar Schindler influenced the phoniatric and speech therapy practice related to communication and language in childhood. In light of the current scientific evidence and of meaningful results derived from congregating expert opinions, such as the international Delphi Consensus and the first Italian Consensus Conference on Developmental Language Disorder, the paper also discusses some of the current challenges for the scientific and clinical community. The article briefly describes some new validated and standardized assessment tools, whose data are available on indexed journals. Finally, this essay suggests some consideration to promote a growing development in the knowledge, prevention and management of language disorders.
Keywords
Oskar Schindler, Language disorder, Phoniatrics, Speech and Language Therapy, Assessment.