Group approach for the evaluation of language disorders in young children

The aim of this study was to describe the contributions of a group therapy approach, which had a social interactionist focus, on the evaluation of language in children aged from between one year, nine months and three years. Nine children participated in the study and they were evaluated in three groups of three participants (G1 and G2--children with language disorder problems, G3--children without language disorders). Four video-recorded meetings were performed for each group, each of which lasted from 30 to 60 minutes. The videos were analyzed along with the field journal, focusing on the participation of the children and their oral and non-oral production. This study provides a detailed analysis of G2, which showed an increase in oral production and an expansion of linguistic functions throughout the sessions. The non-verbal aspects contributed to the identification of relevant elements related to language, especially at the pragmatic level. The context of play and group interaction, and even disputes for objects, led to the detection of different aspects of language. The proposed assessment which is described made it possible to observe the children's language in a live context and it is a model that covers the different aspects of language in meaningful contexts of interaction.