Language Disorders

In Children
Estrella Mountain Community College
SLP 205

What is Language?
According to the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA),
language is the understanding and/or use of spoken (listening and speaking),
written (reading and writing), and other symbolic communication system
(American Sign Language - ASL).

Language can be broken down into 2 systems

1. Receptive Language (e.g., listening and reading)
2. Expressive Language (e.g., speaking and writing)
The Synergy of Language
Spoken language (receptive and expressive) and written language (reading and
writing) are part of a synergistic system that are comprised of 5 language
subsystems within them.

1. Phonology - speech sound system rules regarding how sounds change when
they interact or are combined with one another
2. Morphology - refers to the structure of words and the parts of words (root
words, suffixes, prefixes, plurals, etc.)
3. Semantics - relates to the understanding of the meaning of words and using
words appropriately when speaking
4. Syntax - refers to the word order and word combination to form phrases and
sentences
5. Pragmatics - refers to the use of language in social contexts

So, What is a Language Disorder?

● A language disorder is an impairment in the child’s understanding (receptive
language) and/or use of spoken (expressive language), and/or written
language based on what’s expected for their age The disorder may involve the
form of language (phonology, morphology, syntax), content of language
(semantics), and the use of language (pragmatics)
● Amongst professionals, there are many terms used to describe a child that has
trouble understanding and using language. This can make it confusing for
parents and others. The different terms used are:
○ Receptive and/or expressive language disorder
○ Developmental language disorder
○ Specific language learning impairment
○ Language learning impairment
○ Language delay or disorder
Difference Between a Delay and Disorder:
Language Delay:
Means the child is developing
language in the typical sequence and
patterns of their peers, but at a much
slower rate
Language Disorder:
Means the child is not developing
language in the usual sequence or
pattern, instead they are developing
language in an unusual pattern or
abnormally. The child may have a
great deal of trouble following simple
directions or understanding
questions. They may have difficulty
coming up with words or formulating
sentences

Language Disorders can be Developmental or Acquired

Developmental Language Disorders (most common in children): Are present very

early in life. A developmental language disorder is caused by a child developing
language differently or abnormally when compared to typically developing children
their age. It occurs in children with normal intelligence and normal hearing. Occurs
in up to 10% of children and most often in boys (2-3 boys for every 1 girl).

Acquired Language Disorders: Come after the development of language. This type
of disorder involves the loss of language skills due to an illness or neurological
injury. Acquired language disorders are more often seen in adults.
 3 Types of 1. Receptive Language Disorder
Language 2.
3.
Expressive Language Disorder
Mixed Language Disorder
Disorders

Receptive Language Disorders in

Children

● Difficulty understanding language. Children will have trouble understanding

the meaning of words. This includes words that people say, words in books,
and signs.
Receptive Vocabulary Deficit - 1st Sign of a
Receptive Language Disorder
Receptive Vocabulary - refers to all the words an individual can comprehend or
has in their language repertoire even if they aren’t able to pronounce the word.
This is one of the 1st things that a SLP will assess in an individual with a possible
language delay or disorder. It is the backbone for communication!
Receptive vocabulary includes all types of words: Nouns, adjectives, verbs,
prepositions, adverbs, etc.
Receptive vocabulary deficits are often the center of expressive vocabulary
deficits. If one doesn’t fully understand the meaning of the word, then how are they
going to be able to use those words correctly?

Semantic Deficits
Effects on a Toddler/Preschooler:
● Delayed speech production due to poor understanding of words
● Difficulty attending, listening, and following directions due poor understanding
of key words (e.g., nouns, pronouns, verbs, etc.)
Effects on a School Age Child:
● Difficulty in understanding and remembering the meaning of words (feeling
confused)
● Teachers or peers asking you questions or telling you a story and again not
knowing or remembering the meaning of words (withdrawing, inappropriate
comments, not paying attention, or just nodding head)
● Test taking (e.g., science, history) - often structured to test knowledge and the
understanding of new terms (e.g., matching, fill in the blank, multiple choice,
etc.)
Semantic Deficits
Effects on a School Age Child (continued):
● Reading Comprehension - a weak vocabulary often results in the child
needing stories with pictures or to rely on context clues to help determine the
meaning of words. Difficulty often increases as the child moves up in grades
and there aren’t pictures that accompany literature or vocabulary becomes
more abstract (existing in thought or idea and not having a physical existence)
● Attention - during oral discussions is minimal due to lack of understanding of
so many concepts that it’s too difficult to piece them all together
● Following directions with assignments.projects - may do it wrong or try to copy
off a peer. Teachers may use concepts such as, “What’s the motivation
behind the characters?” “Present your thesis to the class.” “Make a collage.”

Effects of Receptive Vocabulary Deficit

Effects on a School Age Child (continued):
● Long term effects - children that continue to exhibit receptive vocabulary
deficits in middle school and high school will also struggle in college. As an
adult, the will exhibit difficulty following the news, reading articles on the
internet, social conversations, and work related issues. They will often due
better in occupations that involve visual and hands on occupations with less
reading, writing, and verbal work.
Examples of a Receptive Vocabulary Deficit
A 6 year old child with a receptive vocabulary deficit may know that a “goat” is a
farm animal, but when he has to identify a goat out of 4 pictures that includes a
picture of a ram and a sheep, he becomes confused and is unable to identify the
“goat.”

A 10 year old that may know about a telescope, but when she has to identify it
from 4 picture that include a microscope, camera, and stethoscope, she is unable
to do so.

Teacher: “Class, today, since our bordet of sool is harvent, I would like all of you
to plen and let others jess. Now, Heather, what is barnish there?”
Heather: “Uh, I don’t know.”
Teacher: “Were you listening? Hmmm…Maybe someone can help Heather
out…Allison?”

Semantics
Semantics refers to understanding the meanings of words and words used in
sentences and longer units (synonyms, antonyms, categories, definitions, etc,). It
involves the understanding of abstract words used in humor and figurative
language.

Having strong semantic skills are so important for developing an understanding of

what going on around you and being able to express oneself in a clear and
meaningful manner!
Semantic Deficits Seen in Children with Receptive Language
Disorders
Semantic Deficits:
● Difficulty understanding the functions of items
● Difficulty understanding categorization
● Trouble following verbal directions
● Having trouble understanding questions
● Difficulty understanding the relationships between words (synonyms,
antonyms, words that fall into the same category, multiple meaning words,
etc.)
● Hard to follow along or be a part of conversations or class lectures without
visuals
● Has difficulty understanding ambiguous words or abstract language (humor,
sarcasm, figurative language). May take things literally.

Summary of Characteristics in Children with Receptive

Language Disorders
● Characteristics of Receptive Language Disorders will be different for each
child depending on their age and severity level (mild through severe)
● Early developing signs may include
○ 15 months: receptive vocabulary deficits (may not look, identify, or point at familiar people or
objects when asked)
○ 18 months: may not follow simple directions (e.g., “Give mommy cup” or “Get you shoes”)
○ 24 months: may not point to familiar or common pictures in a book or to certain body parts
○ 30 months: doesn’t respond or appropriately respond to simple yes/no and simple questions
verbally or by nodding/shaking their head or using gestures
○ 36 months: doesn’t understand simple action words (run, jump, clap, etc.); doesn’t
appropriately respond to 2-step directions (e.g., “get your shoes and put them on”
● School age children may include
○ Receptive vocabulary deficits
○ Difficult time attending
○ Doesn’t appear to listen fully when someone is speaking
 Summary of Characteristics in Children with Receptive
Language Disorders
● School age children may include (continued)
○ Appears to have a lack of interest when a story or book is being read to them
○ Doesn’t understand words in context
○ Difficulty understanding the meaning of words, simple sentences, complex sentences,
conversations, and/or lectures (semantics)
○ Difficulty remembering all the words and their order within a sentence so the child is able to
understand the meaning of what was said
○ Difficulty following directions (related vs.unrelated)
○ Difficulty following multistep directions. Child may need time to process one piece of
information at a time
○ Difficulty responding to yes/no and “wh” questions
○ Inappropriate comments due to difficulty following a conversation or understanding a question
that has been asked
○ Difficulty understanding humor and figurative language, may take things literally (semantics)
○ Difficulty listening to stories with many different characters and events
○ Needs an unusual amount of time to think before answering

Example of a Child With a Receptive Language

Disorder

“Yesterday Mrs. Sauer was telling us what to do, and I couldn’t remember what
she said, so I asked Jamaal ‘cause he’s smart. When she caught me askin’ him,
she got really mad because she said I should pay attention better, but the words
fly out of my head like a bird.”
Tamina, age 5
Example of a Child With a Receptive Language
Delay
“I am concerned about Manny. He seems confused at times. He doesn’t always
seem to know what’s going on and he is so defensive. In school, he struggles with
following class discussions and he often has no idea of how to do his homework.
Thank goodness our neighbor is in the same class, because I’d never know what
he is suppose to be doing. He reads well, but doesn’t always understand what he
is reading.”
Mother of Manny, age 8

Effects of Receptive Language Disorder Seen at Home and

School
● Seems uninterested when people are speaking to them. This is due to what
they are hearing may have little meaning (poor understanding of words,
memory of words in a sentence) resulting in the child not always knowing how
to respond. What one might see at:
○ Home: When others are talking or sharing stories, the child will rarely comment or ask
questions. The child might often interrupt.
○ School: No matter how short or interesting the material being taught is, the child appears to
not be paying attention
● Has difficulty following directions, which may be due to how many steps are in
the direction given, how fast they are spoken, and word choice (vocabulary)
○ Home: May nod when asked to do something and then consistently doesn’t complete the task
or only does part of it
Effects of Receptive Language Disorder Seen at Home and
School
● Has difficulty following directions, which may be due to how many steps are in
the direction given, how fast they are spoken, and word choice (vocabulary)
○ School: May act like he knows what to do, but doesn’t actually do it until he can copy one of
his peers
● Consistently misunderstands what is asked, said, or written due to the child
trying to grasp onto details, struggling with the meaning of words, connecting
words in a sentence, and then missing the idea or greater picture.
○ Home: When asked a question, the child may not respond appropriately (e.g., “How are you
doing?” and the child responds with “I am looking for my football”} or hr may repeat the
question
○ School: When the teacher asks a question about a story she just read and the child responds,
but not appropriately to the question.

Expressive Language Disorders in Children

● Difficulty using language. A child with an expressive language disorder has
difficulty expressing their thoughts, ideas, wants, and needs through speech,
writing, and/or signs. They may have difficulty recalling words and putting
words together to form grammatically appropriate phrases and sentences.
● Signs of a developmental Expressive Language Disorder usually becomes
apparent when a child is beginning to learn language and communication
skills
● Can co-occur with Receptive Language Disorder
● Areas of language that may be affected: vocabulary, semantics, morphology,
syntax, word finding, explaining
Expressive Vocabulary Deficits
Difficulty knowing the most appropriate word to use when speaking. Often seen
when a child is having to name objects/pictures, verbally express how they’re
feeling, retell a story, or describing something or someone. The individual will use
vague or less specific words.
An Expressive Vocabulary deficit is often part of a larger expressive language
disorder!

Effects of an Expressive Vocabulary Deficit

Effects on a Toddler/Preschooler:
● Will often take the listener to what they want due to the difficulty of naming
what they want (the child takes her parent to the refrigerator when hungry)
● Relies on gestures and noises to describe - Sam wants to tell his dad about
his new race car, so he says, “Daddy vrooom…” as he crashes it into the wall.
Effects on a school age child:
● Use dull vocabulary - often use basic or vague vocabulary instead of being
specific. For example, a 5th grader with an expressive vocabulary deficit
might describe a boy crashing into the waves at the ocean as “a boy in the
water getting wet,” which is what you would expect from a much younger
student
Effects of an Expressive Vocabulary Deficit
Effects on a School Age Child (continued):
● Stalling - the student may use filler words, such as, “um,” “like - you know,”
”whachamacallit,” etc. These type of stalling words are also seen when a child
exhibits word finding or retrieval difficulties. Word retrieval deficits can be a
contributing factor to vocabulary deficits.
● Weak semantics - semantics has to do with how we use words. So a child
may say, “A scorpion bit me” instead of “stung” me or the student may
describe a train as being really “big” instead of “long.” When a student exhibits
vocabulary deficits and/or word retrieval difficulties, semantics are always
affected.

Effects of an Expressive Vocabulary Deficit

Effects on a School Age Child (continued):
● Do not use higher-level vocabulary - Do well with recalling certain words in
isolated language tasks, but lack generalization or using them correctly within
the correct context. For instance, can recall synonyms, antonyms, multiple
meaning words during isolated tasks, but those new words aren’t being
carried over correctly. They need consistency and continued examples of how
to use the new words
● Repetition of phrases or sentences - When a child is lacking in their
vocabulary repertoire, they often use the same words, phrases, and
sentences over again. For example, if a 3rd grader had to write a sentence for
each of his vocabulary words, each sentence may start off with “I see a ___.”
Effects of an Expressive Vocabulary Deficit
Effects on a School Age Child (continued):
● Difficulty defining words - A student may be able to comprehend the
vocabulary within a story using context clues or pictures; however, when
asked to define that word after the lesson, that child most likely won’t be able.
There’s a lack of generalization or carry over.

Word Retrieval or Word Finding Difficulties

Some children with language disorders may have word retrieval difficulties.Word
finding/retrieval difficulties refers to having difficulty retrieving words from one’s
brain quickly enough to use in a desired context.
● “The word is in there, they just can’t seem to get it out when it is needed.”
● By saying “um” or using filler words, is giving themselves extra time to think of
a word
Characteristics of a Child With Word Retrieval
Difficulties
● Have a good understanding, but a poor expressive vocabulary
● An excessive amount of “ums”, “uhs”, or other stalling words
● Use words that are similar, but not as specific (“We went to the uh…sandy
place with water.”)
● Circumlocution: talks around a word or subject (“That thing you wear around
your pants to hold them up.”)
● May make up words or substitute words
● May raise hand in class, but has no answer
● Have a lot of pauses in their speech, but no answer

Example of a Child With Word Finding Difficulties

“Sometimes when I try to think of what I want to say, uh…the

words get um…jumbled in my head….When the teacher calls
on me in class, I can’t think of it fast enough, so uh…I just say
I don’t know. I wish I wasn’t so stupid.”

Jared, age 9
Example of a Child With Word Finding Difficulties

“I have a very nice mom who goes there to uh…um…her work-job I mean. I forget
the name of her company. She is in charge of taking those things you see on TV
and putting them into these little, little, uh…OH! You know. Those things. She
does that, but only on certain times. My dad drives up to the big highway everyday
in his car. Well, it’s not a regular car, it’s one of those big ones, you know what I
mean. A…I forget!

Semantics in Children with Expressive Language Disorders

Semantics refers to the meanings of words. In regards to expressive language
difficulties, a child doesn’t appropriately use words in context, limits the amount of
words used, or uses vague words to express themselves

Semantic characteristics seen in expressive language disorders:

● Difficulty using words in the correct context
● Uses a limited number of words in sentences (verbal and written)
● Experiences difficulty asking questions
● Overuses filler words, such as “stuff” and “things” due to not being able to
come up with the target word
● Has difficulty making references in conversation (refers to specifics as “it” or
“that”
● Has trouble getting to the point in a conversation
● Difficult to initiate spontaneous interactions or share ideas
Morphology and Syntax in Children with Expressive
Language Disorders
Morphology: refers to rules of combining words or parts of words to make new
words. These words or parts of words are called morphemes (e.g., adding -ed to
walk to make it past tense walk-ed, adding ing to jump to make it present tense
jump-ing, adding ‘s’ to girl to make it plural girl-s, adding “self” to the pronoun her
and making it her-self, and learning to change regular verbs ‘run’ to irregular verbs
ran to indicate past tense).

By 5 years old most children are producing grammatically correct sentences using
correct verb tenses and plural forms.

Syntax: refers to the structure rules we use to combine words into a sentence. The
words within a sentence need to be in a certain order to convey the intended
message. Children with syntax difficulties may omit entire words or put them in the
wrong order.

Characteristics in Children with Morphological and Syntactical

Difficulties
Children with morphological difficulties will often leave off word endings and
beginnings and often do not mark past tense of regular or irregular verbs.
● Past and present tense verbs “I jump over it” or “Last night I see a big moon”
● Possessives “Mommy car”
● Plurals “Two horse”
● Pronouns “Him took it”
Children with syntactical difficulties will produce phrases or sentences by:
● Omitting articles “a, an, the” (“I have ball”) or “is” - contractions (“It hot.”)
● Omitting prepositions (“Kitty house” instead of “The kitty is under the house.”)
● May not use complex sentences due to leaving out prepositional phrases and
clauses (We stayed at the cabin, by the rolling river.)
● May use a statement to ask a question by their inflection in their voice
(“Tommy is my friend?” instead “Tommy is my friend.”
Example of a Child with Morphological and
Syntactical Difficulties

“I not goin’ school today. Mommy. I sick. We goin’ a doctor?

Why you take me to doctor, Mommy? Him give me shot?
Maybe yesterday I jump around too much. Tommy falled off
and he have two cut now. I won’ jump anymore.”

Jacob, age 6

Expressive Language Disorders Affect a Child’s

Ability to Explain
Difficulties in Explaining May be Due to:
● Sequencing Difficulties
● Referencing Difficulties
● Divergent Language Difficulties

May have 1 or all of the above!

Sequencing Difficulties
Sequencing refers to putting things together in the right order

A child may experience difficulty using temporal concepts:

Left and right
Beginning and end
First, next, last

They can tell you bits and pieces of a story, but has difficulty retelling the story in
an organized, logical, and sequenced manner.

Referential Difficulties
Referential refers to identifying or referencing who, what, where one is talking
about, which has a significant effect on the cohesion of a story or information that
the child is trying to relay

Characteristics of referential difficulties:

● Uses too many pronouns (he, she, they, it)
● Uses to many indefinite pronouns (this, that, etc.) Example: (dog, Bo, he);
(friend, Maddie, she, her); (toy, it); (the beach, there); (the movie Toy Story,
Buzz Light Year, he, it)
Divergent Language Difficulties
Divergent would refer to thinking outside the box or coming up with many solutions
to a question, seeing a variety of solutions to a problem, being creative.
convergent thinking where there is one answer to a question. It’s about facts,
following directions, and problem solving with one right answer.
● Example of divergent thinking: open-ended questions - After reading that
chapter, what do you think will happen next?
● Example of convergent thinking: closed-ended questions - What color is a
banana?

Characteristics of a child with divergent language difficulties

● Often has difficulty “getting started” in journals
● Difficulty determining what is important about a topic/picture
● Difficulty with problem solving

Characteristics of Children who Have Problems

Explaining
● Take extra time to get started with answering open ended questions “Tell me
about dogs.”
● Jump around when telling stories
● Often say “I don’t know” rather than struggle to explain something
● Have difficulty writing stories
● Have difficulty initiating conversations
● Focus on unimportant details – miss the big picture
Example of a Child Who Has Difficulty Explaining a
Movie He Saw:

“Uh…well, I don’t know. Yeah, I’ve seen it 100 times, but um…it’s hard to explain.
It’s about a guy who does a lot of…has a lot of adventures. When he was almost
killed, the big boulder almost fell on him and it was radical…really radical. But first
he was at his dad’s ranch for a while. The girl in the movie- Johanna –she took-
uh…I mean she wanted to …hmmm…Well, they both really wanted to find a
secret cave. But the guy that had-uh…that rock was so big, really…it was radical.”

Jackson, age 10

Summary of Characteristics in Children with Expressive

Language Disorders
● Characteristics of Expressive Language Disorders will be different for each
child depending on their age and severity level (mild through severe)
● Early developing signs may include
○ 15 months: isn’t beginning to attempt to use words or isn’t beginning communicate using
gestures (waving, pushing away for “no”)
○ 18 months: isn’t producing “mama,” “dada,” etc.
○ 24 months: producing less than 25 words
○ 30 months: not using 2 word phrases mostly with nouns and verbs
○ 36 months: has less than 200 word in their expressive vocabulary; not asking for familiar
objects by name (e.g., cup, cracker, baby, truck, etc.); not using sentences; repeating
questions instead of answering them
● School age children may include
○ Uses certain words and phrases over and over again when talking
○ Doesn’t appropriately use words in context (semantics)
Summary of Characteristics in Children with Expressive
Language Disorders
● School age children may include (continued)
○ Often uses filler words “um” and words such as “stuff” and “things,” instead of target words
(semantics)
○ Frustrated by the inability to communicate wants and needs
○ Uses significantly less words, short, and simple sentences than peers
○ Difficulties with syntax - Has trouble formulating phrases and sentences due to word order
○ Has trouble finding the right words and often uses more general than specific terms (e.g.,
“dog” instead of “golden retriever” or “movie” instead of “The Goonies”) - Could be vocabulary
and/or word retrieval difficulties
○ Grammatical errors resulting in poor sentences structure, leaving words outs, or incomplete
sentences (morphology)
○ Echolalia: repeating or echoing what was was heard
○ Circumlocution - talking in circles instead getting to the point
○ Difficulty initiating and maintaining a conversation

Effects of Expressive Language Disorder Seen at Home and

School
● Speaks very vaguely. Children with expressive language disorders lack
expressive vocabulary skills and relies on familiar phrases and sentences
○ Home: Child uses words such as, “things” or “stuff” a lot
○ School: When the child asks questions in class, often will repeat back the question instead of
answering directly
● The child can be very quiet or withdrawn because it can be so difficult for
them to express their thoughts and feelings
○ Home: May not have a lot of friends or close friendships. Keeps to himself
○ School: Child doesn’t raise his hand in class or participate in class discussions. Also, may be
quiet in group projects.
● The child may be difficult to understand due to syntactical and morphological
difficulties
○ Home: The child hangs on to every word in a book because he has difficulty talking about it
○ School: The child makes frequent syntactical and morphological errors in speech and writing
 Mixed Receptive and Expressive
Language Disorder

Is when a child has both characteristics of receptive language and expressive

language deficits.

Major areas of Concern in Children with Mixed

Language Disorders
● Limited receptive/expressive vocabulary
● Difficulty with semantics
● Syntax problems
● Morphological problems
● Difficulty understanding and explaining stories, information, etc.

Children with semantic, syntactical, and morphological difficulties will often have
problems with understanding and using spoken language, formulating written
sentences, and retelling and writing stories.
Causes of Language Disorders
● In the majority of developmental language disorders, the cause is unknown
● Some causes may be due to:
○ Family History - 35% greater chance of having a developmental language disorder
○ Prenatal exposure to drugs
○ Premature birth
○ Hearing loss
○ Intellectual Disabilities
○ Genetic Disorders (e.g., Down Syndrome, Fragile X, etc.)

Effects of Having a Language Disorder

Having a language disorder can be really frustrating for the parent, teacher, and
the child. These are some characteristics a child with a language disorder may
encounter:

Academic Effects
○ Greatest effects on reading and writing: A child’s skills in speaking and understanding have a
direct correlation to their ability to read and write.
○ Difficulty recognizing phonemes
○ Difficulty understanding and using new vocabulary
○ Difficulty finding the right words
○ Trouble with following simple and/or complex directions
○ Shy away from class discussions
Effects of Having a Language Disorder
● Social Interaction: Having difficulty understanding or communicating with
other children often affects a child from developing friendships with peers
○ Hesitant to interact with other kids
○ Exclusion or rejection to participate with other children in group activities
○ Difficulty interacting or holding a conversation with other kids
○ Difficulty negotiating the rules of games with other kids
● Behavior
○ Can become extremely frustrated and act out in the classroom
○ Frequent arguments or fighting with others
○ Withdrawing
○ Easily distracted
○ Following or bothering classroom peers to help with understanding classroom assignments or
directions

References
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References
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Retrieved October, 2017, from
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/receptive-language-disorder

References
● American Speech Language and Hearing Association. (n.d.). Preschool Language Disorders.
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https://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/Preschool-Language-Disorders/
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sorders/expressive-language-issues-what-youre-seeing
References
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● McAleer Hamaguchi, P. (2010). Childhood Speech, Language, and Listening Problems. Retrieved
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● Taylor, M. (2016, February 07). The Difference Between Convergent and Divergent Thinking.
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