Language disorders can make it hard for children to speak with others and learn. These language disorders can have a mild impact on a child’s ability to learn, communicate, and understand others, or they might be severe enough to cause communication and learning to be very difficult. In some cases, adults do not get diagnosed in childhood, when these disorders are usually identified. This can lead to a more complex treatment plan than would be required for young children who have been diagnosed early.
Treatment for these disorders can be very helpful and can ensure that those who have a language disorder can communicate and understand others without struggle.
Different kinds of speech disorders can lead to different symptoms. These symptoms can also be experienced on a spectrum. For some children, the symptoms will be mild, while for others, they could be severely limiting.
There are three kinds of language problems that are commonly experienced by those who have language disorders:
This disorder makes it hard for children to pronounce words and sounds. Specific consonants are commonly difficult for those with this disorder. Letters like r, p, b, and m are usually difficult for those with articulation disorders. Some people are able to outgrow this speech disorder without support, but speech therapy and other forms of treatment can be very beneficial and should be used to treat this condition.
Children with this speech disorder have trouble with sentence flow. They might stutter, or they might have pacing issues in their speech, such as long pauses. These patients might also repeat words over and over.
Some language disorders will cause a child to speak too loudly and have a flat or atonal sound to their voice. This disorder can also cause poor modulation in volume with dips and spikes in volume throughout a conversation that are not typical.
Sometimes speech or language disorders can be detected even in very young children. When a small child does not babble or make articulate sounds by seven months of age, this is a sign that there might be a language disorder present. Children who can only speak a few words by the time they are 17 months of age might also have a language disorder. Older children who are around 2 to 3 years of age might show symptoms of being unable to progress past simple sounds and speech.
Language disorders can be caused by a variety of things.
These causes can also be the risk factors related to the condition. In addition, if there is anyone else in the family with a speech disorder, this can make it more likely that another family member will have one.
Diagnosis of language disorders is often made through careful testing. Various testing modalities need to be used in most cases to be able to build a treatment plan for each patient. Speech comprehension tests, reading skills tests, and testing to see how readily patients can learn new concepts can help to diagnose language disorders.
Those who might have language disorders will usually need to work with a language pathologist or an SLP. These professionals will be able to determine what kind of language disorder the patient has and the severity of the disorder.
Treatment will usually be guided by an SLP or language pathologist. This person will help children to learn how to make sounds that they are struggling with and to recognize and correct communication issues related to modulation and comprehension. In very young children, play will be used to help teach new language skills. These skills are closely related in younger ages, and connecting play with therapy can help to cement new skills for young children.
Older children who are getting diagnosed later in life might also need to seek support from a mental health professional. It can be very challenging and stressful to have to learn new language skills at a later stage of life, which might require the support of other medical professionals beyond an SLP.
You cannot prevent this kind of disorder in most cases. Even if an accident of some kind leads to impairment, accidents often cannot be prevented. If you have a family member who has a language disorder, you might want to be sure that you report any struggles with language or comprehension that you have observed in your child to your doctor.