Specific language impairment, SLI (Specific Language Impairment, SLI) is a serious and long-lasting disorder that delays language acquisition in children who do not have hearing loss or any other cause of developmental delay and that lasts through childhood and adolescence, and may leave some consequences in adulthood. This is also known as developmental language disorder, language delay or dysphasia.

The cause of SLI (specific language disorder) is currently unknown, but in the field's literature we find articles that mention the genetic component, stating that 50 to 70% of children with these difficulties have family members with the same disorder. . SLI is a heterogeneous disorder that manifests itself in different ways, distinguishing each of them. In any case, we usually find some characteristics that are common or similar among patients:

• Late language acquisition, obstructing intelligibility, immaturity in syntactic forms, considerable morphological errors that last over time.
• Delay in language acquisition, presenting the possibility of developing the first words, which may later disappear, including the acquired sounds.
• Limited lexicon.
• Presence of disruptive behaviors to compensate for their difficulties.
• If speech comprehension is affected, the behavioral picture may be more complex.
• Evolution, depending on severity. Normally, problems with coherence and cohesion of speech, conversational difficulties, and sometimes, behavior persist over time.

As we have observed, if SLI affects comprehension and expression, it will affect reading and writing and, consequently, learning. Therefore, if it is not treated in due time, it can affect school performance and self-esteem. In this way, early diagnosis and early intervention are essential to strengthen the foundations of treatment. Treatment should focus on the following aspects:

MARIONA ALSEDÀ FLORENSA

Speech therapist, Special Education Teacher and Psychopedagogue