PURPOSE: To describe the performance of children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) in tests of reading, writing, arithmetic, phonological awareness and auditory sequential memory abilities, as well as to verify whether there is a positive association between the tests that evaluate school learning and those that evaluate information processing. METHODS: Twenty children with SLI diagnosis and ages between 7 and 12 years, were submitted to the School Performance Test (Teste de Desempenho Escolar - TDE) and two tests that evaluate information processing (Phonological Abilities Profile and the subtest of Auditory Sequential Memory of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities- ITPA). RESULTS: The majority of the subjects presented deficits in all the tests. The analysis of the associations among the group's performance in the different tests showed that metalinguistic skills were significantly associated with the reading (p=0.02) and writing (p=0.02) abilities. In turn, the auditory sequential memory ability presented statistically significant association only with arithmetic ability (p=0.0003). CONCLUSION: The majority of the evaluated children showed deficits in their school performance, as well as in the abilities of phonological awareness and short term memory. It was found positive associations between the short term memory and the arithmetic tests, and between the phonological awareness and the reading and writing tests. In this context, it is emphasized the use of intervention programs based on Psycholinguistic Models, that suggest the use of individual strategies for the development of metalinguistic skills.
Child language; Learning; Reading; Employee performance appraisal
