Relationship between receptive and expressive vocabulary in chidren with specific language impairment

PURPOSE: to compare receptive and expressive vocabulary indexes in children with Specific Language Impairment. METHODS: cross-sectional study, with sample constituted of 21 children with Specific Developmental Disorder of Speech and Language, assessed in a Speech Therapy school clinic, being 09 girls and 12 boys, with an age range between 3 and 11 years old. For this study,Proof of Vocabulary of Teste ABFW and the Teste of Vocabulary Picture Peabody-TVIP was used. RESULTS: 80,95% of the children presented adequate development compatible with the evaluation of expressive vocabulary, while 52,4% presented development compatible with the age range in evaluation of receptive vocabulary. There was no statistical significance. CONCLUSION: children in the present study presented better performance in the evaluation of expressive vocabulary in relation to receptive vocabulary. This data prove the need of a careful and investigative view by the speech therapist for both the aspects of production and understanding of language.