Supporting Children with Linguistic Vulnerabilities Through Advanced, Theory-Driven Technological Solutions: The TELMÌ Approach for Italian children with DLD and Children with Italian as L2

This paper presents the early stages of a research project employing advanced technological solutions to improve language skills in two groups of 5– to 8-year-old children with linguistic vulnerabilities: those with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and those with Italian as a second language (L2). Although both groups may exhibit similar linguistic difficulties, the underlying causes are distinct, necessitating tailored interventions. Currently, the lack of appropriate linguistic support interventions and normative data for L2 learners underscore the urgent need to investigate how learning processes differ between the two groups to develop more targeted training programs. Another major challenge in conventional speech therapy is the reliance on traditional, paper-based methods, often perceived as stressful and unengaging by children. These methods frequently overlook the broader cognitive, social, and emotional context of language, and can be costly and logistically demanding for many families. To address these limitations, this study introduces a multi-week training program delivered through an innovative technological platform called TELMÌ, which is grounded in solid theoretical principles from speech therapy and psycholinguistics. TELMÌ aims to foster children’s morphosyntactic skills through interactive storytelling deliverable through two distinct modalities: a tablet-based web application and an immersive, interactive multisensory system known as the Magic Room. This study has two main objectives: (1) to assess whether children in the DLD and L2 groups show improvements in their linguistic skills and, if so, to examine the qualitative and quantitative differences in their learning; (2) to explore whether the delivery format (tablet vs. Magic Room) yields distinct outcomes. Findings will inform the design of specialized, context-aware interventions for each population and shed light on the potential benefits of integrating technology into speech therapy.