Simbolic play, vocabulary and intellectual performance of children with developmental language disorder

To verify whether the performance in the first assessment of pretend play of children with diagnostic hypothesis of developmental language disorder, correlates with the performance in formal tests of non-verbal intellectual function and both receptive and expressive vocabulary after 5 years old.

The research comprised 26 subjects, 19 of whom were male, and 7 were female, with an mean age of 4:10. All participants presented a diagnostic hypothesis of developmental language disorder based on inclusion and exclusion criteria described internationally. Data were analyzed in relation to pretend play, vocabulary and performance in standardized intellectual assessment test; we also investigated correlation between them. All data underwent statistical analysis and the confidence intervals were 95%.

As for pretend play, it was found that most children with suspected developmental language disorder present more primitive symbolic development. Regarding vocabulary, the data show greater performance in receptive vocabulary than in expressive. In the assessment of the intelligence quotient, the children obtained, in their majority, classifications in the mean score and superior score to their age. Regarding the interaction between studied variables, no correlation was found.

No relationship was found between the studied variables. The data are discussed in the light of international literature and promote important reflections on the symbolic-linguistic development of this population.