To finish with this series of articles dedicated to SLI , we want to go a little further and detail the specific areas of intervention that we can take into account in children with SLI symptoms , always taking into account the specific difficulties defined in the different types that exist in this disorder :

Once we have attended to these 4 basic requirements for language, we delve into the intervention work by areas of action. We leave you some ideas for you to put into practice!!

A. PHONOLOGICAL LEVEL

At this level we find 3 clear objectives of problems to be treated: 1. Alterations in phoneme discrimination: Generally, the exercises focus on both the discrimination of similar phonemes and the identification of the order of phonemes within words. For this, exercises such as:

• Differentiate words that are the same or that differ only in one phoneme (eye/bear, elbow/elbow, chorus/elbow, etc.).
• Follow commands that contain problematic phonemes.
• Point out objects.
• Use different gestures depending on the phoneme presented.
• Respond to words based on phoneme discrimination.

2. Deficits in the production of phonemes: It is recommended to improve the pronunciation of the phonemes that the child has already acquired, and at the same time teach those that the child has not yet produced. Some appropriate exercises would be:

• Direct manipulation of the joint organs.
• Biofeedback devices.
• Imitation of phonemes and words.
• Reading syllables, words, phrases and texts.
• Denomination of cards that contain drawings or actions.
• Phonetic lotuses.
• Phonetic bingos.
• Games with phonemes.
• Popular songs and poems.
• Role-playing in which appropriate roles are represented.
• Scripts.
• Physical guide to the speaking organs.
• Use of joint modifiers (depressors, balls, etc.).
• Imitation of the speech therapist.
• Speech Viewers

3. Problems at the syllable level: It is common for children with SLI to also show difficulties in discriminating the syllables that make up words, a difficulty that affects both the production and understanding of syllables. To intervene on this aspect, activities such as:

• Discriminate the duration of words (more or less syllables).
• Discriminate the variations in the tone of the voice in the different syllables.
• Identify the number of syllables that the words consist of (you will begin by marking the syllables with voice strokes that gradually fade away).
• Imitation of syllables.
• Repeat a word omitting a syllable.
• Add syllables to words.
• Imitation.

B. LEXICAL-PRAGMATIC LEVEL

Children with SLI have a smaller vocabulary than children with normal language development and present limitations at the semantic level, which is why it is common for the speech therapist to intervene on these aspects, focusing on 2 objectives:

C. MORPHOSYNTACTIC LEVEL OF THE LANGUAGE

The difficulties most frequently found in children with SLI, within the dimension of morphology and syntax, have to do with the following aspects:

1. Use of syntactic and grammatical elements where activities are used in which those elements with which the child has problems would be worked on (plurals, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, futures, etc.).

• Create sentences from one or two given words.
• Tell the content of a picture with pictures.
• Correct errors or omissions.
• Correct the sentences that a doll says.
• Order words.
• Construct sentences that contain the problematic elements.
• Join parts of sentences.
• Create imaginary stories and tales.
• Children's songs.
• Imitation.
• Role-playing.
• Scripts.

2. Structure of the sentences for which the age of the child and the evolutionary sequence of language acquisition will have to be taken into account, to design exercises that allow single words to combinations of two words of the most frequent types (agent-action, action object, agent-object, etc.) and from there to first sentences. These exercises could involve:

• Imitation.
• Comics sorting.
• Recognize correct phrases.
• Complete sentences.
• Correct disordered sentences.
• Description of events.
• Invention of stories.
• Role-playing.
• Scripts.

3. Comprehension of sentences to work on this area, exercises such as:

• Tracking individual orders. For example, “take a pencil,” “give me the eraser,” “draw a house,” or “paint a tree pink.”
• Tracking complex orders. For example, “take a pencil and jump”, “give me the eraser that has a star drawn on it”, “draw a house that has a green roof” or “in front of the house, paint a tree pink but make it pink”. “lower than the house.”
• Produce similar sentences.

D. PRAGMATIC LEVEL OF LANGUAGE

Sometimes, children with SLI have difficulties participating in the communication that occurs in their environments, do not initiate conversational exchanges, and are unable to regularly use language as a tool to satisfy their various demands. In this sense, speech therapy intervention on the pragmatic level usually emphasizes two different but complementary aspects:

We hope you find ideas, games, activities and, above all, it helps you analyze the evolutionary moment and need that your child is in so that you can understand the complex and methodical nature of the professionals around you, learn from them, team up and Little by little, together you will be able to see your children take off!!

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