Life habits of school-aged children with specific language impairment as perceived by their parents and by school professionals

• Communication and education presented large amount of life habits affected.
• Aspects of interpersonal relationships presented challenges for children with SLI.
• Recreation and responsibilities are also affected.
• The parents reported more affected life habits than school professionals.

PurposeDescribe social participation of a group of children with specific language impairment.Method26 parents of children with specific language impairment (SLI) aged from 5 to 13 years and 11 school professionals participated in the study. Data collection was performed with the adapted version for children aged from 5 to 13 years old of the Assessment of Life Habits (Fougeyrollas et al., 2001). The questionnaire encompasses 196 life habits, grouped in 12 dimensions: nutrition, fitness, personal care, communication, housing, mobility, responsibilities, interpersonal relationships, community life, education, work and recreation (Fougeyrollas, 2010).ResultsAccording to their parents and school professionals, children in this study carried out without difficulty life habits related to housing and mobility. However, they experienced difficulty with life habits related to interpersonal relationships, recreation and responsibilities, in addition to communication and education.ConclusionsChildren with SLI are perceived by their parents and school professionals as having reduced social participation in many aspects of their daily life. Social participation should be considered as a major outcome when offering services in school to these children. This study proposes specific ways to help children with SLI.