SENTENCE COMPREHENSION IN CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL LANGUAGE DISORDERS

Abstract

Purpose: Language comprehension is vital to social and educational development. Difficulties in sentence comprehension can be detected in most children with developmental language disorders (DLD) using age-appropriate instruments with high sensitivity. There are two main theoretical frameworks for the characterization of difficulties in language acquisition in children with (DLD): linguistic-based and cognitive-based theories. The aim of this study is a comparison of language comprehension in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and children with typical language development (TLD). Two types of tests referred to as main theoretical frameworks have been used (Token test and TEPO - Sentence Comprehension Test). Sample: We studied 101 children aged 4,3-6,9 years with (DLD) and typically developing peers (TLD). Data collection took place in the period 2021-2023. Method: It is quantitative research. A total of 47 children with (DLD) were compared with 54 children with (TLD) in two comprehension tests. The research goals were set as follows: 1) Correlation of TEPO test and Token test using Spearman´s correlation coefficient; 2) Comparison of homogeneity of test results in TLD and DLD children using Stuart–Maxwell test; 3) Determination of the sensitivity and specificity of both tests. Results: There is a high dependence between the two tests, indicating a high level of correlation, with = 0.81 in the whole research sample. There was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) between the test results based on percentile rank scores. The non-parametric unpaired Stuart-Maxwell test was used. The TEPO test has high sensitivity (95,7%) and the Token test has high specificity (90,7%). Discussion: Both comprehension tests have several advantages in terms of their characteristics, and they also have some limitations. The research results provide more information about the differences between the two testing methods and explain how the test results can be used in education.