Language profile of children from a quilombola community

Abstract

Purpose: to identify linguistic performance (expressive vocabulary, phonology and narrative) and cognitive performance (Verbal Short-Term Memory (VSTM)) of preschoolers living in a quilombola community. Methods: Twenty-four quilombola preschoolers aged four (4) and five (5) years with no complaints in language development participated in the study. Most families were in the D-E class and maternal and paternal education was lower than high school. Their guardians answered a questionnaire about their previous development, family practices and socioeconomic aspects, while the assessment included tests of expressive vocabulary, phonology, narrative and verbal short-term memory. The data collected were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis to characterize family practices, socioeconomic aspects and linguistic and cognitive performance, inferential analysis used Fisher’s exact test to compare performance between subjects aged 4 and 5 years and also to compare performance according to family practices. Results: 78.3% of preschoolers performed adequately in vocabulary and 79.2% in phonology; and 63.6% had the narrative classified as descriptive. 82.6% had a VSTM task performance below the expected for age. Conclusion: Although the preschoolers in this study had functional communication, their profile of language development and cognitive skills was more vulnerable and may have an impact on their school trajectory.