Language Disorders of childhood can be a source of frustration and bewilderment for children, their parents, and their teachers. These disorders may go undiagnosed in the preschool years when parents and teachers alike are sensitive to placing unrealistic expectations on their youngsters. Often a “wait and see” approach is taken as there is a great amount of variability in the expressive vocabulary of youngsters.
But this variability decreases dramatically by 30 months of age. This is important to note because it indicates that between the ages of 18 and 30 months a small expressive vocabulary will now represent a significant deficit. Though it is difficult to ascertain how many children suffer with language disorders, it is estimated they effect between 3%-5% of preschoolers, with a higher prevalence in boys.
Specific Language Disorders are typically diagnosed by what they are not, and in the past have been referred to as childhood aphasia, specific language disorder, or specific language impairment. A diagnosis of Specific Language Impairment (SLI) is generally arrived upon when elements such as mental retardation, sensory disorder, neurological damage, emotional problems, environmental deprivation, and other developmental disorders have been ruled out.
Children with mild to moderate SLI will often appear to outgrow the most obvious aspects of their language deficits by the end of the preschool period. This further complicates the picture as some children may appear to catch up and oral language deficits may appear to resolve. These children may also appear to have sophisticated comprehension skills. This is often a result of their ability to use event knowledge and other nonverbal information to supplement their weak language skills. These strategies often allow the child to integrate cues from gestures, facial expression, and their knowledge of how things usually work.
It has been posited that a high percentage of children with learning disabilities began their academic careers as preschoolers with oral language delays. In essence, suggesting that language disorders will display themselves in different modes as the child matures. These modes of expression may include reading, writing, and spelling. Children who “outgrow” SLI appear to grow into learning disablities as the risk for academic difficulties is substantial.
Characteristics of SLI include difficulty with syntax, morphology, and phonology. Syntax is the form or structure of a sentence. Morphology is the internal organization of words. Morphemes are the smallest grammatical unit that have meaning. As an example let’s look at the word /dog/. There is no way to divide the word /dog/ and still retain two units that have any meaning. On the other hand the word /toys/ can be divided into two parts /toy/ and /s/. Here each morpheme has meaning i.e. toy-something a child plays with; and /s/-which can indicate more then one, or possession. Phonology is concerned with the speech sounds of a language. It encompasses the structure, distribution, sequencing of speech sounds, and shape of syllables. The phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that indicates a change in meaning. If we look at the word t-o-y there are three phonemes from which a specific meaning is derived. If we change some of the phonemes i.e. b-o-y or t-o-p, we have altered the meaning of the word significantly. Phonological disorders cooccur with SLI very frequently. It is obvious to see where phonological difficulties can adversely effect a child’s performance in reading and spelling. It has been estimated that approximately 20% of children with phonological disorders will require special services by the time they are school age. When a child has both receptive and expressive delays it is estimated that problems in oral language and academic skills can range from 40% to 80% with academic problems primarily in reading and writing.
In the classroom, children with SLI may exhibit word retrieval difficulties with deficits in speed and accuracy of confrontational naming. Examples include “hmm, hmm”, “uh, uh”, “I’m thinking”, etc. Often a child will do this to stall for time as they process information. Children with SLI often do not talk much and what they say is brief and unelaborated. There is a tendency to rely on nonspecific terms such as “this one”, “that one”, “stuff”, or “thing”. They may rely on other students to talk for them, or appear to ignore the communicative attempts of others. Short term memory for verbal material is problematic. The child may appear hyperactive, disruptive, become emotional or frustrated due to communicative incompetency. Unintelligible speech due to multiple phonological errors cooccurs frequently.
If you would like professional development hours or suggestions on how to increase the oral competency of preschoolers please contact Hope Fernicola, M.A.
Reference: Paul, Rhea (1995) Language Disorders from Infancy Through Adolescence. Mobsy, St. Louis Missouri.