Intervention for improving comprehension in 4–6 year old children with specific language impairment: practicing inferencing is a good thing

Abstract

Few studies report on therapy to improve language comprehension in children with specific language impairment (SLI). We address this gap by measuring the effect of a systematic intervention to improve inferential comprehension using dialogic reading tasks in conjunction with pre-determined questions and cues. Sixteen children with a diagnosis of SLI aged 4–6 participated in 10 weekly treatment sessions carried out by their regular therapists. Baseline and maintenance periods were also tabulated. Two experimental measures and a standardized test revealed that children's total scores and the quality of their responses post-treatment were better than those obtained pre-treatment. However, perhaps due to the use of non-equivalent probes, this change could not be interpreted solely as a significant effect of intervention. These results nevertheless suggest that a systematically designed intervention focusing on the comprehension of specific types of questions requiring inferencing and using a carefully scaffolded cueing strategy can be beneficial.

Keywords:

• specific language impairment
• comprehension
• efficacy of intervention
• inferences

Acknowledgements

This study is the extension of a pilot study funded by the CIRRIS/IRDPQ and conducted in collaboration with Catherine Thomassin et Andréanne Lemieux. Many thanks are extended to the children who took part and the therapists who were willing to accept the challenge to collaborate in this study. We could not have completed this study without the help of Marie-Claude Archambault, Marie-Eve Poulin, Florence Dion-Morin, research assistants, as well as Jean Leblond, statistician.

Declaration of Interest: This study was funded by the Réseau provincial de recherche en adaptation-réadaptation du Québec (REPAR). The authors report no conflicts of interest.