Intervention in fluency problems in pupils with Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

The aim of this research has been to prove the efficacy of an intervention programme on the problems of phonetic and semantic fluency and mazes in narrative discourse in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). The sample consisted of 34 children diagnosed with SLI and 34 children with normal language development. For the selection of the sample, the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF-3), Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Hearing Association and the Visual Association subtests of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA), and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT) were used. Performance in phonemes (F, A & S), semantic fluency (animals) and the appearance of mazes or repairs in a narrative task were also evaluated. The intervention programme consisted of 72 sessions of 15minutes each, using phonetic and semantic fluency activities with phonetic and semantic clues. Differences between groups were statistically significant in repetitions and false connectors.