Intervention in reading processes in pupils with Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) often face significant challenges in developing reading abilities.
• Early identification and intervention are crucial for addressing reading difficulties in this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a specialized intervention program on various reading processes in children with SLI.
• To compare the reading performance of children with SLI who received the intervention against a control group with typical language development.

Main Methods:

• The study involved 34 children diagnosed with SLI and 34 typically developing children.
• Participants were assessed using standardized tests including CELF-3, Peabody, ITPA subtests, and K-BIT.
• The intervention comprised 144 sessions integrating oral language activities with reading skill automation, sentence, and text reading.

Main Results:

• Children with SLI demonstrated significant improvements in lexical, syntactic, and semantic reading processes following the intervention.
• The intervention group showed greater gains in these reading components compared to the control group.

Conclusions:

• A comprehensive intervention program combining oral language and reading skill development is effective for improving reading achievement in children with SLI.
• Targeted interventions can positively impact foundational reading skills crucial for academic success in children with language impairments.