Paediatric Services

Children with a language disorder may experience difficulties expressing themselves and understanding what others say. This is unrelated to hearing problems.

Expressive language disorders and receptive language disorders are common in young children.

Children who have problems with expressive language may have trouble

●     Asking questions

●     Naming objects

●     Using gestures

●     Putting words together into sentences

●     Learning songs and rhymes

●     Using correct pronouns, like "he" or "they"

●     Knowing how to start a conversation and keep it going

●     Changing how they talk to different people and in different places. For example, you speak differently to an adult than a young child. You can talk louder outside than inside. Many children have problems with both receptive and expressive language.

Children with speech sound disorders may say some sounds incorrectly as they learn to talk. They learn some sounds earlier, like p, m, or w. Other sounds, like z, v, or th, take longer to learn. A child who does not say sounds by the expected acquisition ages for a specific sound may have a speech sound disorder. You may hear the terms "articulation disorder" and "phonological disorder" to describe speech sound disorders like this.Your child may substitute one sound for another, leave sounds out, add sounds, or change a sound. It can be challenging for others to understand them. It is normal for young children to say the wrong sounds sometimes. For example, your child may make a "w" sound for an "r" and say "wabbit" for "rabbit." They may leave sounds out of words, such as "nana" for "banana." This is okay when they are young. It may be a problem if they keep making these mistakes as they get older. You and your child may also sound different because you have an accent or dialect. This is not a speech sound disorder.

Speech motor planning is the ability to come up with an idea, plan how to say or express that idea and then finally say it. Muscle tone refers to the muscle strength needed to move the jaw, tongue and other muscles needed to speak. A motor speech disorder is present when a child struggles to produce speech because of problems with motor planning or muscle tone needed to speak. There are two major types of motor speech disorders: dysarthria and apraxia. Dysarthria, often called slurred speech, is slow, distorted speech resulting from weakness and inability to control or coordinate muscles used during speech. Apraxia of speech is the inability to make a voluntary movement, like speaking, even if the child can demonstrate normal muscle function.

Literacy is the child’s ability to read and write. These skills are essential for school, at work, and home. You start to learn a language as a baby. You learn how to say sounds and put them together to make words. You learn to use words to tell people what you think and feel. These early speech and language skills help you learn to read and write. Some children also have trouble with reading and writing, such as:

●     Holding a book right side up

●     Looking at pictures in a book and turning pages

●     Telling a story with a beginning, middle, and end

●     Naming letters and numbers

●     Learning the alphabet

Social communication is how and why we use language to interact with other people. We all decide how to communicate based on the place we are in, the people around us, and the reason behind communicating. We learn how to make these decisions by being taught directly (like being told to say “please” when asking for something). The ability to make communication decisions like these is called social communication. Social communication is the unwritten rules we learn from our families, friends, and community. There isn’t a right or a wrong way to communicate, but over time, we learn how to adjust what or how we say something. There are three major skills involved in social communication:

1. Using language such as, greeting (saying “Hello” or “Good-bye”), informing (saying “I’m going to get the ball”), demanding (saying “Give me the ball now!”), promising (saying “I’m going to get you the ball.”), requesting (saying “I want the ball, please.”).

2. Changing language based on the listener or situation, such as, communicating differently to a baby than to an adult, giving more information to someone who does not know the topic, knowing to skip some details when someone already knows the topic or communicating differently in school than at home.

3. Following rules for conversations and storytelling, such as, taking turns being a talker and being a listener, letting others know the topic when you start talking, staying on the same topic, trying another way of saying what you mean when someone doesn’t understand what you were trying to say, using body language, like pointing, knowing how close to stand to someone when talking, or using facial expressions and eye contact.

Every culture—and even every family—can have its own set of rules. Even different groups of friends might have their own set of rules. These rules are usually not written down, so it can be difficult to know how to act in different situations.