Effects of a Phonological Reading and Writing Remediation Program in Students with Dyslexia: Intervention for Specific Learning Disabilities.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of a phonological remediation reading and writing program in individuals with dyslexia, through behavioral and objective evaluations. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty children diagnosed with dyslexia, aged 8-14 years, were included in this study. Group I (GI) was composed of 10 children who took part in the program, and group II (GII) consisted of 10 subjects who did not take the remediation. The pre-testing evaluated phonological awareness, rapid naming, working memory, reading and writing of words and nonwords, thematic writing, and auditory evoked potential - P300. The type of stimulus used was the speech (20% of rare stimulus and 80% of frequent stimulus), intensity of 80 dBNa. The rare stimulus was the syllable /da/, and the frequent stimulus was the syllable /ba/. Next, the Phonological Reading and Writing Remediation Program was applied in 24 cumulative sessions, twice a week, each with a duration of 30 min. In the post-testing (at the end of the program), all the tests of the pre-testing were reapplied. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference (between pre- and post-testing) in phonological awareness, rapid naming, working memory, thematic writing, writing and reading words and nonwords, as well as in the latency of the P3 component of P300 in GI, while GII maintained the same difficulties. CONCLUSION: The phonological remediation program showed to be a therapeutic method of fast beneficial effects in written language of individuals with dyslexia. However, the wide age range and the size of the sample could be considered a limitation of this study - it interferes with the generalization of results.

Construção de um instrumento para avaliar a compreensão da linguagem oral de crianças de 2 a 6 anos / Construction of an instrument to assess oral language comprehension of children from 2 to 6 years / Construcción de un instrumento para evaluar la comprensión del lenguaje oral en niños de 2 a 6 años

Objetivo: Descrever a construção de um instrumento para avaliar a compreensão da linguagem oral de crianças de 2 a 6 anos e obter evidências de validade baseadas no conteúdo. Método: A pesquisa consistiu em: levantamento e caracterização de instrumentos nacionais e internacionais destinados à avaliação da compreensão da linguagem oral de crianças; elaboração do instrumento; e análise do instrumento por cinco juízes. A análise estatística envolveu cálculo da porcentagem de concordância, razão de validade de conteúdo e índice de validade de conteúdo. Resultados: Foram levantados 19 instrumentos que avaliam a compreensão da linguagem oral utilizando palavras isoladas, ordens simples ou complexas e textos. Posteriormente, foi elaborado instrumento composto por oito fases com oito itens cada. A tarefa consiste na manipulação de figuras pela criança, conforme as ordens do avaliador com nível crescente de dificuldade. A análise dos juízes indicou resultados satisfatórios para os índices calculados para o instrumento como um todo. Os itens com índice insatisfatório foram revisados para compor a versão final do instrumento. Conclusão: O estudo descreveu a primeira etapa do processo de construção do instrumento e foram obtidas evidências de validade baseadas no conteúdo. Estudos posteriores serão conduzidos para obtenção de outras fontes de evidência de validade.

Objective: This work aimed to describe the construction of an instrument to assess the oral language comprehension capability of 2 to 6-year-old children and get validity evidences based on content. Method: The research consisted in: gathering and characterizing existing national and international instruments used for the assessment of children oral language comprehension capability; elaborating a new instrument; and analysis of the instrument by five judges. Statistical analysis involved calculation of Percentage of Agreement, of Content Validity Ratio and of Content Validity Index. Results: Nineteen instruments were identified, which assess the oral language comprehension capability by using items formed by isolated words, simple and complex orders, and texts. It was subsequently developed an instrument consisting of eight stages containing eight items each. The task consists in the child manipulating figures in accordance with the orders of the evaluator with increasing level of difficulty. The judge's assessment indicated satisfactory results for the calculated indices for the instrument as a whole. Items with unsatisfactory rate were reviewed for inclusion in the final version of the instrument. Conclusion: This study described the first step of the construction process of the instrument. Validity evidences based on content were obtained. Further studies will be conducted to obtain other sources of content validity.

Objetivo: Describir la construcción de un instrumento para evaluar la comprensión del lenguaje oral en niños de 2 a 6 años y obtener evidencias de validez basadas en el contenido. Método: La pesquisa se consistió en: levantamiento y caracterización de instrumentos nacionales e internacionales destinados a la evaluación de la comprensión del lenguaje oral en niños; elaboración de un nuevo instrumento; y análisis del instrumento por cinco jueces. El análisis estadístico envolvió cálculo de porcentaje de concordancia, proporción de validez de contenido e índice de validez de contenido. Resultados: Fueran identificados 19 instrumentos que evalúan la comprensión del lenguaje oral, utilizando palabras aisladas, ordenes simples o complejas y textos. Posteriormente, fue elaborado un instrumento compuesto por ocho frases con ocho ítems cada. La tarea consiste en la manipulación de figuras por el niño según las órdenes del evaluador, con nivel creciente de dificultad. El análisis de los jueces indicó resultados satisfactorios en lo que se refiere a los índices calculados para el instrumento como un todo. Los ítems con índice insatisfactorio fueran revisados para componer la versión final del instrumento. Conclusión: El estudio describió la primera etapa del proceso de construcción del instrumento e fueran obtenidas evidencias de validez basadas en el contenido. Estudios posteriores serán conducidos para obtención de otras fuentes de evidencia de validez.