Profile of communicative acts of children with developmental language disorder

Abstract

Purpose To characterize the communicative acts of children with Developmental Language Disorder, verifying the number of communicative acts, interactive communicative acts, and their relationship with chronological age. Methods Forty children of both sexes with a diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder aged between 3 years and seven years and 11 months were subjects. All subjects were assessed with the ABFW Pragmatics Test - Child Language Test in their initial assessment. Specifically, this study focused on verifying the number of communicative acts, communicative acts per minute, interactive communicative acts, and the number of communicative initiatives. Results The data indicate that children with Developmental Language Disorder present significant alterations concerning communicative acts and communicative interactions, and there is a correlation between these variables and chronological age. Conclusion Children with Developmental Language Disorder show a decrease in the number of communicative acts, interactive communicative acts, and communicative interactions when compared to the reference values of typical children, regardless of age.