Early intervention in the lexical organization of pupils with developmental language disorders

Abstract

The main objective of the present study has been to verify the effectiveness of an intervention program on the lexical organization of pupils with Typical Development and with developmental language disorder. A total of 99 five-year-old pupils from schools in the Tenerife Island (Canary Islands, Spain) participated. The subtests of expressive vocabulary and of receptive and expressive word classes of the CELF-4 were used. The intervention program consisted of 75 sessions lasting 20 minutes each. The results indicated that pupils diagnosed with developmental language disorder initially performed worse in vocabulary and word classes than those with TD. Also, the pupils with developmental language disorder not only improved their performance by the end of the program, but were found to be the group with the greatest gains from the intervention. There are educational implications for organizing an early intervention of an inclusive nature.

vención sobre la organización léxica de alumnado con desarrollo típico y con trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje. Participan un total de 99 alumnos de cinco a˜ nos de edad de colegios de la Isla de Tenerife (Islas Canarias, Espa˜ na). Se utilizan los subtest de vocabulario expresivo, de clases de palabras receptivo y expresivo del CELF-4. El programa de intervención consta de 75 sesiones de 20 minutos de duración. Los resultados indican que el alumnado diagnosticado con trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje presenta inicialmente un peor rendimiento en vocabulario y clases de palabras que el diagnosticado con desarrollo típico. Una vez finalizado el programa, el alumnado con trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje además de mejorar su rendimiento, es el grupo que presenta mayores ganancias. Existen implicaciones educativas para organizar una intervención temprana de naturaleza inclusiva.