language disorders
instances in which children experience significant difficulties in the development of language.
- individuals who exhibit significant impairments in the comprehension and/or production of language in form, content, and/or use.
cultural context
a child is learning and applying his or her language abilities.
Late language emergence (LLE):
slow start in language, occurs in an estimated one in five children (19%)
- identified at about 2 years of age (bc of two-word combinations)
Primary language impairment
significant language impairment in the absence of any other developmental difficulty (e.g., cognitive disability, brain injury), affects about 7%–10% of children older than 4 years
- also called specific language impairment (SLI)
- one-third of preterm children go on to develop SLI
- genetic research indicates that the risk for SLI runs in families
secondary language impairment
intellectual or cognitive disability and the autism spectrum disorders.
- 12 in 1,000 children exhibit mild to severe intellectual dis-ability.
- Children with mild disability outnumber those with severe disability by about 3 to 1.
- autism children 1 in 68
Direct services
diagnosing language disorders and providing treatment to children with disorders through clinical and educational interventions.
Indirect services
screening children for the possibility of language disorders and referring them for direct services, as well as counseling par-ents on approaches to supporting language development in the home environment.
Speech–language pathologists:
the lead direct service provider for children with language disorders.
SLP responsibilities:
prevention, screening, consultation, assessment and diagnosis, treatment delivery, and counseling.
- screening children for possible language disorders, conducting evaluations of children with suspected language disorders, diagnosing language disorders, and developing and administering treatments to remediate disorders of language.
Psychologists
hold important responsibilities in the identification and treatment of child language disorders, and also conduct research important to our under-standing of how to identify and treat these disorders.
Cognitive and perceptual psychology and developmental psychology
2 branches that focus on child language disorders
- work in Cognitive and perceptual psychology and developmental psychology
General educators
preschool, elementary, middle school, and high school teachers.
- identifying children in their classrooms who may show signs of difficulty with language
pre-referral intervention
identification of approaches to support the child’s language and communication skills in the classroom environment.
child study team
- general educator, the parents of the child with a suspected language difficulty, as well as other professionals
- identifies approaches the general educator may use to support the child’s language performance in the classroom.
the least restrictive environment (LRE):
a federal mandate of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which stipulates that children with disabilities should receive their education to the maximum extent possible in the same contexts of their peers without disabilities.
Special educators
more than 400,000 special educators teaching the nearly 6 mil-lion children with disabilities in our nation’s schools
- one-fourth of these children with disabilities have disabilities of speech and language
itinerant teachers;
do not have their own classroom but rather co-teach or collaborate with a number of different teachers.
- special area of expertise, such as the education of children with autism or children who are deaf, and thus go into classrooms in which these children are served to collaborate with teachers
Early interventionists (sometimes called child development specialists)
professionals with specialization in intervention for infants and toddlers.
- work from a clinic, hospital, or community-based organization that has received a grant from the state
- birth to 2-year-olds in their region who have developmental delays
Audiologists
specialists in identifying, assessing, and managing disorders of the auditory, balance, and other neural systems.
- language disorders when hearing loss is involved, and work closely with SLPs and other professionals in the design of interventions.
- 13,000 audiologists currently working in the United States, and the field is expected to expand dramatically in the next decade, with the number of positions increasing by more than 30% over the next decade
Otorhinolaryngologists or ear–nose–throat physicians (ENTs):
diagnosis and management of language disorders that result from injury
- slow language development as a function of otitis media (OM) or other types of hearing loss.
- 10% of children have OM
SLI: Defining Characteristics:
- typical hearing skills ; normal intelligence; and no obvious neurological, motor, or sensory disturbances, such as seizures or brain injury
- diagnosed after 3rd birthday
- enduring difficulties with language
- affects both expression and comprehension of language
- slow vocabulary development
- considerable difficulties with grammatical produc-tion and comprehension that begin during toddlerhood and continue through school age
- difficulty adjusting academically
- long-term difficulties with language achievement.
SLI: Causes
no real cause
- research suggest a strong biological and genetic component to this disorder
- if a family member has SLI
- 20-40% of SLI shildren have a sibling or parent with a language disorder
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
developmental disability that affects an estimated 1 in 68 children , with a higher prevalence among boys and among children with affected family members.
- 7 in 1,000 boys affected compared to 1 in 1,000 girls
Three major areas of difficulty required for an ASD diagnosis include
- Difficulties with social-emotional reciprocity
- Difficulties with nonverbal communicative behaviors.
- Difficulties developing and maintaining relationships with others.
