Chapter 7: Language Disorders in Children

• Heterogeneous


  Consisting of dissimilar or diverse individuals from all ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds
• Language Disorder

  impaired comprehension and/or use of spoken, written (graphic), and/or other symbol systems. Disorder may involve 1) the form of language (phonology, morphology, syntax), 2) the content of language (semantics) and/or 3) the function of language in communication (pragmatics/social communication) in any combination
• Specific Language Impairment (SLI): significant receptive and/or expressive language impairments that cannot be attributed to any general or specific cause or condition
• Language Delay

  children may have slow start at developing language but they will eventually catch up with their peers
• Language Comprehension

  an active process in which, from instant to instant, a listener infers the meaning of an auditory message based on the context of the information and long-term stored memory of words and general knowledge
• Screening


  in speech, any gross measure used to identify individuals who may require further assessment in a specific area
• Circumlocutions

  use of a description or "talking around" a word when the specific word cannot be recalled
• Metalingusitics


  the ability to think about and talk about language
• Learning Disability (LD)


  a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself as difficulty listening, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, mathematical calculations, reasoning and problem solving
• Language-learning disability

  an impairment of receptive and/or expressive linguistic symbols that affects learning and educational achievement and consequentially, possible occupational and professional choices and success, in addition to emotional and social development
• Gross Motor Skills


  involvement of the large muscles of the body that require tone, strength, and coordination that enable such functions as standing, lifting, walking, and throwing a ball
• Fine Motor Skills


  movements that require a high degree of dexterity, control, and precision of the small muscles of the body that enable such functions as grasping small objects, drawing shapes, cutting with scissors, fastening clothing, and writing
• Developmental Coordination Disorder


  impairment of groups of gross and fine muscles that prevents smooth and integrated movements which results in clumsiness during walking, jumping, and athletic movements and during more refined movements such as using eating utensils and writing. Often associated with learning disabilities, low self-esteem, repeating injuries, and weight gain.
• Standardized (norm-referenced) tests


  a test that has been administered to a large group of individuals to determine uniform or standard procedures and methods of administration, scoring, and interpretation, and has adequate normative data on validity and reliability. Tests that are administered to compare one child's performance to others the same age.
• Normative data (norms)


  data that characterize what is usual in a defined population and that describe rather than explain a particular occurrence. An average of performance of a sample drawn randomly from a population.
• Client-specific measurements (clinician-devised assessments)


  Assessments that are not standardized tests that a clinician constructs to make decisions about a specific client's communication abilities.
• Language Sample 


  an audio recording of a child's spontaneous conversation or naturalistic verbal interaction with the clinician, family member, or both that is later analyzed
• Elicit 


  behavior that is drawn out of a person by presenting certain stimuli (i.e. asking a child to name or describe objects to observe speech & language)
• Chronological Age (CA)


  the actual age of a person that is derived from DOB (days, months, years)
• Dynamic Assessment


  the use of nonstandardized assessment approaches that may take the form of test-teach-retest to determine a child's ability to learn following instruction or prompts
• Goal (target behavior)


  any verbal or nonverbal skill a clinician tries to teach a client
• Operationally Defined Goal


  a specific behavior that is observable (can be heard or seen) or measurable
• Traditional (clinician-directed) approaches


  A language therapy approach that allows the SLP to control all aspects of language stimulation, including guiding the session and eliminating distractions to help focus the client's attention on the selected language tasks
• Naturalistic Approach


  a therapy approach that creates opportunities for a child to use targeted language structures in the child's natural environments (home, school, community)