Monday, October 1, 2007

Language Disorders in School-Aged Children

This information is provided by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

Brian is a 14-year-old who is repeating the seventh grade. Art is his favorite and best subject. In other subjects, he struggles to maintain a C average. His teachers comment about his lack of organization, his difficulty following directions, and his 'class clown' behavior. He never seems to quite fit in with the crowd. His level of frustration is rising along with his truancy rate. Many things may be contributing to Brian's difficulties, including a possible language disorder.

Language Development
The ability to read and write is strongly influenced by the ability to understand and use language. Students who are good listeners and speakers tend to become strong readers and writers. Language has a major role in all subjects including reading, math, history, geography, and even art. The early school years emphasize language development, social-emotional growth and readiness skills. The middle grades emphasize specific subjects. Mastery of language is assumed. Emphasis is placed on written skills. The later grades involve more complex use of language by students, including an increased vocabulary, more advanced sentence structure, and different kinds of language for different situations.

The importance of early identification and remediation of language delays and disorders in young children is well known. Less commonly known is the importance of identifying and remediating language disorders in the adolescent. Such disorders may lead to feelings of failure, low self-esteem, poor academic and social success, and a high drop out rate.

Language Disorders
Language disorder refers to any impairment in:

Form, including phonology, morphology, and syntax, for example, misuse or misunderstanding of the information provided by word endings: "The boy eat his dinner."

Semantics (meaning), for example, difficulty understanding idioms: "It's raining cats and dogs."

Pragmatics (function), for example, using language for different purposes (promising, requesting), changing language for listener needs (peer vs. teacher), or following the rules of conversation (turn taking, introducing topics of conversation, and staying on the topic).

MSI-ASLHA058
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional and scientific society that represents 81,427 audiologists; speech-language pathologists; and speech, language and hearing scientists. ASHA's mission is to promote the interest of its members, to provide them with the highest quality services, and to advocate for people with communication disabilities. ASHA's Consumer Affairs Division provides an information and referral service on a broad range of speech, language and hearing disabilities for both children and adults.For additional information on this topic or other speech, language, or hearing disabilities, contact the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852, 1-800-638-8255 (U.S. only) or (301) 897-8682 (Voice or TTY). Or visit the ASHA's web site at http://www.asha.orgCopyright 1994-2001, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Licensed to Medical Strategies, Inc. (MSI)/Healthtouch (R).You can find this article and more information from Healthtouch Online at http://www.healthtouch.com