[Investigating language acquisition disorders based on the complaints].

PURPOSE To investigate complaints commonly reported by parents of children with language disorders. In addition, we have analyzed the conditions of verbal production and comprehension of these children. METHODS The sample comprised 55 children of both genders with ages between 2 and 12 years old. The complaints reported by their families at the beginning of therapeutic intervention were analyzed and subdivided, considering deficits on verbal production, verbal comprehension and both (mixed comprehension and production deficits). Subsequently, we analyzed the performance of these children in verbal comprehension and production tests, in phonological, semantic, grammatical and pragmatic levels. RESULTS By analyzing the performance of children whose families complained about verbal production (82.6%), it was found that 55.2% of them also presented verbal comprehension deficits. Verbal production deficits occurred at phonological (97.3%), semantic (76.3%), grammatical (78.9%) and pragmatic (5.2%) levels. CONCLUSION Although complaints regarding verbal production deficits are more common, verbal comprehension deficits are also evident in children with language disorders. These findings evidence the importance of careful evaluation based on the complaints presented by the families.