 Language
Disorder of Language Form: In addition to speech sound development, a child might fall behind in his use of grammar. The two disorders- phonology and grammar often occur together. A child often omits word endings. He does not develop target structure forms such as pronouns, copulas (forms of the verb to be), plurals, possession, -ing progressive verbs, past tense verbs, complex verb forms, and other grammar structures at the age most children do.
Disorder of Language Content: A child has difficultyy understanding words and/or choosing words to express his ideas. They may substitute one word for another word, They may use words more typical of a younger child. They may repeat words or syllables. They may misunderstand concept words such as position (under, over, etc.), time (before, after,etc), quality (large, pretty), etc.), and quantity (some, few, etc).
Since these children are struggling to choose the right words to express themselves, they may have difficuty with both language form and content. They may also struggle with language use since they may have trouble comprehending questions or conversation directed towards them, and therfore, may respond incorrectly or inappropriately.
Vocabulary Building Strategies for Home
READ. READ. READ.
Read and retell stories together often. Reading is the best way to build vocabulary and to be exposed to a variety of sentence structures.
Play categorization games.
Play guessing games for building descriptive language.
Build a notebook of synonyms and antonyms.
Bring down more complex questions to a basic ‘what’ question. For example-
Who= What person; Where= What place; When= What time; Why= What reason.
Disorders of Language Use: A child with a disorder in language use does not use language for a variety of reasons/purposes and in a variety of social situations. Many rarely ask questions. They generally answer questions. They do not seem to take turns in a conversation and they let the adults do most of the talking.
Language Strategies for Home:
Provide lots of opportunities for peer interaction.
Teach basic conversational skills-greetings, closings, turn-taking, eye contact, limited interruptions, and listening behaviors.
Comment and question to help continue a topic.
Play pragmatic language games.
Expose children to narrative structure-read aloud to your child.
Sources:
Gorham Speech-Language Therapists
Flex Study Group 2001-2002
Portland Public Schools' Speech-Language Therapists
Communication Skill Builders 1988
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