Developmental Language Disorders
Who can be seen in this clinic?
This clinic is designed to provide assessment and treatment of preschool children who exhibit speech and/or language delays or disorders. Children who are school-age can also be seen in this clinic if they have a developmental delay that affects their ability to communicate with others.
How often will the child be seen?
Typically, children come for two 50-minute sessions a week. Since we have a heavy population of school-aged children coming to the various clinics in the afternoons, we typically schedule the preschool children in the mornings or early afternoons.
What is a speech delay or speech disorder?
The word "speech" refers to the motoric aspect of communicating, or how a child talks. Children who have a speech delay typically do not produce speech sounds and speech patterns in accordance with established acquisition patterns based on normative data. These patterns can be found in any child development book available at local bookstores. You may hear these children referred to as having a phonological or articulation delay or disorder. A delay means that the child is producing normal sounds and sound patterns, but later than would be expected. A disorder means that the child is using a speech sound or sound pattern that is not typically found in normal speech development. All children experience some mispronunciations as they explore sounds and learn how to talk. For example, a child may call a "rock" a "wock". However, with modeling from parents and others in the child’s environment, the child "repairs" these misarticulations without need for therapy. Children with a delay or disorder do not make these repairs on their own and often need the assistance of a speech-language pathologist to learn how to make the sounds correctly.
What is a language delay or language disorder?
Language delays and disorders are defined in the same way as speech delays and disorders, but in this case we are talking about the content, form, or use of language. In other words, language is "what" we say. Content (or semantics) refers to the words a child uses to comprehend what others say to him or her, and to express him/herself to others. In the early stages of development, this includes pointing to objects that are named by the parent, and then progressing to being able to say the name of objects in the child’s environment. Form encompasses areas known as morphology (e.g., the endings such as –er, -est, tense markers, and plurals) on words, syntax (the ability to put words together to form phrases and sentences), and phonology (learning the sound system and rules that govern how sounds are put together to form words). Use (pragmatics) refers to the child’s ability to use language for a variety of functions such as requesting, labeling objects, giving information, and conveying feelings. Children with autism often have deficits in the area of pragmatics.
Receptive language refers to the child’s ability to understand language produced by others, and expressive language refers to the content/form/use of language the child communicates by speaking or gesturing.
How do I know if my child needs to be seen by a speech-language pathologist?
If you have concerns about your child’s development, that is adequate for making a request for an evaluation. Children who are 6 months or more delayed in acquiring the speech and language milestones should be evaluated. Children who have conditions that place them at risk for having speech and/or language deficits should also be evaluated. Examples of these conditions would include a variety of disorders such as Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, or hearing impairment. Following the evaluation, the speech-language pathologist may suggest enrolling the child in therapy, or she may give the family some suggestions to implement at home and recheck the child at a later time. One guideline we use to decide whether to place a child in therapy is how frustrated the child is with regard to communication. A child who is getting frustrated in his or her attempts to communicate should be enrolled in therapy.