THE QUALITY OF INTERACTIVE DYNAMICS IN LANGUAGE DISORDERS: DYAD, TRIAD AND GROUP

Introduction: Different studies highlight that atypical language development can jeopardize the quality of the child’s interactive systems. The language disorder directly interferes not only with the child’s communicative capacities and his cognitive development but also with the way in which he processes everyday experiences and relationships and on the quality of his interactions. The aim of our work is to assess the quality of interactive dynamics and the communicative resources of families that have a child with a Speech Language Disorder (SLD) both in the dyadic pairs that in the triadic system. Furthermore, we intend to assess these children’s relational styles within peer group interactions as offered by the Multimodal Interactive Group Therapy (MIGT). Method: the study involved 15 families of children with SLD. The child’s level of the interactive, emotional and symbolic tools and the interaction modalities of the family were assessed through the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS, Greenspan, 2003) and the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP). A further analysis will be presented on two families that participated to group therapy. The interactions within the peers group were assessed through observations during the cycles of MIGT. Results: The analysis of the clinical cases have highlighted fragilities in the children’s and their parent’s interactive styles both in dyadic than in triadic interactions. We also observed alterations within the relationship with peers. Conclusions: The quality of interactions that SLD children experience significantly influence their further language development. We believe that parents need to be involved and helped to deal with the interactive challenge that Language Disorder entails through a specific group work on families as proposed in the Multimodal Interactive Group Therapy.