Language Disorders

Language disorders fall into three categories. Information on each is discussed below.

Receptive Language Difficulties

Children with receptive language difficulties have trouble understanding what others may be trying to tell them. They often:

• Have trouble following directions, even simple ones;
• May appear to not to be paying attention to what is happening around them;
• May appear to be defiant (for example, they may appear not to follow the rules);
• May not like books or being read to;
• May avoid language-based activities (such as storytelling or show and tell);
• May not understand jokes;
• May be literal in their thinking and may not understand figurative speech (for example, “it’s raining cats and dogs”).

Many children with receptive language difficulties also have expressive language difficulties (please see below). That is because one needs to understand language in order to learn and develop it.

Children with receptive language difficulties do not usually have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) at school. However, the school teacher could help them by:

• Using simple language when giving them instructions;
• Breaking down what they have to do into small steps;
• Repeating a direction or instruction several times;
• Making sure the child is familiar with any language used in a test;
• Encouraging (but not forcing) the child to read and speak;
• Using signs and gestures in combination with oral language when communicating with the child (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Communicating with children

Some children with receptive language difficulties may have anxiety in social situations. In cases of serious anxiety, regular session with the school counselor may be needed.

To learn more about receptive language difficulties, please visit the zero to six section of this course.

Expressive Language Difficulties

Children with expressive language difficulties have trouble letting others know what they want. They may:

• Take a long time to say a sentence;
• Use only very simple language;
• Make a lot of grammatical mistakes (for their age);
• Have a smaller vocabulary than their peers;
• Struggle when it comes to naming objects;
• Use the wrong format when asking questions (for example: “why you not want?”) or using negations (for example: “me no want”);
• May repeat the same thing over and over again;
• May have difficulty retelling basic parts of a story;
• May struggle when someone asks them to talk about their experiences in detail.

Some children who struggle with expressive language also struggle with receptive language. Most of these children do not usually have Individual Education Plans (IEPs) at school. The classroom teacher can still help them by:

• Giving them all the time they need, when they are trying to communicate something to someone;
• Giving them the week’s vocabulary list in advance so they can study it at home;
• Encouraging them to speak with others;
• Encouraging them to read.

Some children with expressive language difficulties may have anxiety in social situations. In cases of serious anxiety, regular session with the school counselor may be needed.

To learn more about expressive language difficulties, please visit the zero to six section of this course.

Apraxia

Apraxia is an umbrella term that covers a set of disorders that have to do with the motor aspect of language. Children with apraxia understand language well, but their brain seems unable to make their mouths move in order to produce the words necessary for speech. These children may:

• Take a long time to produce a word. They know exactly what word they want to say, they just cannot say it (that is because the brain has trouble telling the muscles of the mouth what to do);
• Use very simple sentences;
• Say words out of context (that is, a child may want to say one word, but another word, closely related to it, may come out of his or her mouth);
• May have difficulty with fine motor skills;
• May struggle with reading and writing;
• May appear uncoordinated or clumsy.

In the classroom, the regular educator can help children with developmental apraxia of speech by offering them the same type of support that they would offer children with expressive or receptive language difficulties.

To learn more about apraxia, please visit the zero to six part of this course.

Children with expressive and/or receptive language difficulties and those with apraxia need the help of the speech and language pathologist (SLP). The SLP will help them with all aspects of language and could also help them improve their reading skills. Children with apraxia could also benefit from Occupational therapy (OT) services.

Most children with such disorders grow to lead full and healthy lives. They participate in every aspect of life, just like everyone else.

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