According to The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders a language disorder is “a communication disorder that interferes with learning, understanding, and using language…it can affect a child’s speaking, listening, reading, and writing…It is one of the most common developmental disorders, affecting approximately 1 in 14 children in kindergarten.”
Language disorders and delays are neurological but the exact cause is not known. Symptoms of a language disorder can be different from child to child.
Symptoms in younger children may include:
-late talking (see out post on late talker or something more for more info)
-not using new words every single week
-short sentence length (2 words by 2, 3 word sentences by 3)
-difficulty following directions
-delayed play skills
Symptoms in older children may include:
-small vocabulary for his age
-frequent grammatical errors
-simple sentence structure
-difficulty answering/asking questions
-difficulty telling stories in the correct order or including all the details in a story
-difficulty understanding stories or long strings of sentences
-difficulty following directions
-difficulty reading, writing, or spelling
-difficulty staying organized
-difficulty expressing thoughts and ideas
-difficulty understanding concepts that are appropriate for their age
Language disorders can be life long but with the right intervention can be resolved completely or improved greatly. The key is providing services as soon as possible!