Abstract

Background: The development of individualized diagnostic profiles of children ‘at risk’ of Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) and the implementation of a well-suited to individual’s specific needs intervention program, could be of high significance for the early investigation of SLD.

Materials and Methods: We assessed twenty children 5.4 to 6.0 years old aiming to the accomplishment of the following key-milestones: (a) implementation of an adequate cluster of diagnostic procedures, (b) formulation of individualized diagnostic profiles ‘at risk’ of SLD, and (c) implementation of intervention program, tailored to the individual’s profile.

Results: According to the results, early extent of weaknesses was determined in the domains of working memory (p = .010), visuo-spatial abilities (p = .028), and phonological awareness (p < .001).

Conclusions: Consequently, three profiles ‘at risk’ of SLD emerged in a multifaceted complexity, indicating weaknesses in the above domains. A well-structured 8-month early intervention program resulted in high improvement of the intervention group’s progress (p=.001).

Keywords: Specific Learning Disorder; Early Individualized Diagnosis and Intervention; Working Memory; Phonological Awareness; Visuo-spatial Abilities

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Citation

Citation: Victoria Zakopoulou., et al. “Children ‘at Risk’ of Specific Learning Disorder: Individualized Diagnostic Profiles and Interventions”. Acta Scientific Neurology 4.2 (2021): 25-41.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Victoria Zakopoulou., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.