Semel Auditory Processing Program: Training Effects Among Children With Language-Learning Disabilities

Abstract

This investigation considered whether language processing abilities among school-age children with language-learning disabilities could be improved through training with the Semel Auditory Processing Program (SAPP) (Semel 1976). Selected sections of the SAPP were administered to 45 language-learning disabled youngsters, aged 7½ to 11 years old, over a period of 15 weeks in 30-minute sessions daily. A significant proportion made language age gains of more than six months on subtests of the ITPA and DTLA and on the Carrow Elicited Language Inventory. The mean performance gain on the ITPA Grammatic Closure subtest was 15.48 months. On the DTLA Auditory Attention Span for Unrelated Words and Verbal Absurdities subtests, the mean gains were 15.73 and 22.0 months, respectively. The mean performance gain on the Carrow Elicited Language Inventory was 12.57%. The results suggested that substantial gains in selected language processing skills may be observed when they have been the focus of specific training even though the contents of training did not match the contents of criterion tests.