Dysfasia - mitä se käytännössä merkitsee

• Marja Asikainen

Abstrakti

Specific language impairment (SLI) (englanti)

2/2007 (111)

Specific language impairment (SLI)

Specific language impairment (SLI) is a language disorder typically characterised by delayed speech development and deficiencies in a childs language ability as a result of the abnormal functioning and development of neural networks in the brain. Current knowledge indicates that SLI is present in at least seven per cent of children. Difficulties in acquiring and mastering a language cannot be explained in terms of differences in intellectual capacity or the circumstances in which the child is raised. Nonetheless, there are SLI children who are brought up in an environment that is not fully conducive to their wellbeing or development. If the nature of language impairment and the factors underlying it are not adequately taken into account when planning and implementing supportive measures for the child, the learning difficulty or socio-emotional development disorder may persist despite efforts to support the child through, for instance, child psychiatric treatment.

The writer notes that our knowledge of SLI is still incomplete and that SLI is regarded too emphatically as a problem of speech development and everyday communication or, at best, mainly one of language acquisition. However, deficiencies in a childs language ability and the factors underlying this (probably deficiences in word/speech discrimination and in short and long-term memory) could well affect the childs overall development and general learning ability. Despite having greatly improved their speech and acquired essential language skills long ago, even children (and adults) with only mild SLI can experience problems in comprehending and remembering what they have heard or read, in clearly distinguishing speech, in expressing their own thoughts, observations and feelings, and in demonstrating their own competence verbally or in writing. In conversations it may be difficult to remember the meanings of words quickly enough to keep up with the flow of speech, or difficult to find the appropriate words for a given situation promptly enough.

With greater awareness of SLI it should be possible to prevent or at least to reduce many of the adverse consequences.

Marja Asikainen