The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) defines a language disorder as an impairment in comprehension and/or use of a spoken, written, and/or other symbol system. The disorder may involve the form of language (grammar), the content of language (meaning) and/or the function of language in communication (pragmatics), in any combination.
The three types of language disorders
There are three main areas of language: expressive language, receptive language and pragmatic language.
- Expressive language refers to what a child says.
- Receptive language refers to the language a child understands.
- Pragmatic language refers to the social use of language, or how a child uses language to relate to others and “function” in our world.
A child may exhibit an impairment in one, two or all three areas of language in any combination.
What is an expressive language disorder?
A child with an expressive language disorder may demonstrate:
- Limited expressive vocabulary
- Shorter utterance/sentence length
- Decreased in the variety of words used across nouns, verbs, adverbs, pronouns
- Grammatical errors, such as difficulty with plurals, pronouns (uses he for she, they, him or her), past tense verbs, or deleting articles like the or a
- Difficulty with sentence structure, often producing produces sentences with words that are out of order
- Difficulty structuring and retelling stories (in both written and oral form)
What is receptive language disorder?
A child with a receptive language disorder may demonstrate difficulty with:
- Understanding basic age-appropriate concepts, such as big/little, dirty/clean, more/less, same/different, longer/longest.
- Following verbal commands, such as one-step commands (“sit down”) given to children under 3 or multi-step commands (“get your journal and write your name at the top”) that children typically experience at ages 4-8.
- Identifying categories
- Answering yes/no questions
- Asking and answering the five “wh” questions: what, who, when, where, why
- Answering questions about a story
What is a pragmatic language disorder?
A child with a pragmatic language disorder may demonstrate difficulty with:
- Greetings
- Using appropriate eye contact
- Using language for a variety of functions like commenting, making requests, asking questions, demanding, or informing
- Understanding non-verbal cues given by others like facial expression or body language
- Turn-taking in play and in conversation
- Maintaining a topic in conversation
- Engaging in interactive play with peers
- Initiating interactions and communication with adults and peers
A child with a pragmatic language disorder may frequently:
- Use repetitive phrases
- Use memorized phrases or utterances inappropriately
- Demonstrate echolalia, or the inappropriately repeating another person’s words/sounds or simply parroting a persons words with no communicative meaning
- Display limited interests or hyper focus on a preferred topic
- Display limited play skills, such as:
- Playing with a limited number of toys
- Playing with toys in the same manner each time
- Becoming upset when a play scheme is altered
Are a language disorder and speech disorder the same?
While both are considered to fall under the umbrella of a communication disorder, they are different:
- Language disorder: impairment of our understanding and use of language.
- Speech disorder: impairment in our ability to physically produce language. Difficulty producing specific sounds, articulation disorders and stuttering are examples of speech disorders.
How to help students with language disorders
Early intervention and support can put a child with a language disorder on a path to success. This can mean a combination of therapies, specialized education, and guidance for families on how to support a child’s development.
There are schools like The Parish School in Houston, TX, that specialize in early intervention for children with language disorders. Special needs schools have admissions teams trained to help parents navigate finding the best learning environment for their child’s needs. If your child has been diagnosed, reaching out early can put them on a path to success later in life by providing support, tools, and education for the whole family.
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Stephanie, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist and resource specialist at The Parish School in Houston, TX. With over 15 years of experience supporting children with communication delays, she also co-hosts The Parish School’s podcast, Unbabbled, and contributes regularly to the school’s blog and early childhood programs.
