What types of speech and language disorders affect school-age children?
Children may experience one or more of the following disorders: - Speech sound disorders – (difficulty pronouncing sounds)
- Language disorders – (difficulty understanding what they hear as well as expressing themselves with words)
- Cognitive-communication disorders – (difficulty with thinking skills including
perception, memory, awareness, reasoning, judgment, intellect and imagination) - Stuttering (fluency) disorders – (interruption of the flow of speech that may include hesitations, repetitions, prolongations of sounds or words)
- Voice disorders – (quality of voice that may include hoarseness, nasality, volume (too loud or soft)
Do speech-language disorders affect learning?Speech and language skills are essential to academic success andlearning. Language is the basis of communication. Reading, writing,gesturing, listening, and speaking are all forms of language. Learningtakes place through the process of communication. The ability tocommunicate with peers and adults in the educational setting isessential for a student to succeed in school. How may a speech-language disorder affect school performance?Children with communication disorders frequently do not perform atgrade level. They may struggle with reading, have difficultyunderstanding and expressing language, misunderstand social cues, avoidattending school, show poor judgment, and have difficulty with tests. Difficulty in learning to listen, speak, read, or write can resultfrom problems in language development. Problems can occur in theproduction, comprehension, and awareness of language sounds, syllables,words, sentences, and conversation. Individuals with reading andwriting problems also may have trouble using language to communicate,think, and learn.
How do parents and school personnel work together to insure that children get the speech-language support they need?Parents and teachers should refer any student who shows signs of aspeech-language disorder or delay to the school-based child study team.Screening, assessment, and treatment of communication problems mayinvolve cooperative efforts with: - parents,
- speech-language pathologists (SLPs),
- audiologists,
- psychologists,
- social workers,
- classroom teachers,
- special education teachers,
- guidance counselors,
- physicians,
- dentists, and
- nurses.
SLPs work with diagnostic and educational evaluation teams toprovide comprehensive language and speech assessments for students.Services to students with speech-language disorders may be provided inindividual or small group sessions, in classrooms when teaming withteachers or in a consultative model with teachers and parents. SLPsintegrate students' speech-language goals with academic outcomes andfunctional performance.
Related ResourcesSpeech-Language Disorders Packet/Children 0802026
Brochures:How Does Your Child Hear and Talk?, Child Language, Articulation, TheSpeech-Language Pathologist, Getting Ready For Reading And Writing,Literacy and Communication Expectations From Kindergarten Through FifthGrade; Let's Talk: Early ID of Delays and Disorders, DevelopmentalLanguage, Pragmatics, Activities to Encourage Speech and LanguageDevelopment; Related Organizations List; Beyond Baby Talk flyer;Communication and Literacy Expectations: Grades K-5 Speech-Language and Hearing Milestones: Birth to Age 5
DVD– Covering children from birth to age five, this one-of-a-kind DVD isfull of examples of normal speech, language, and hearing developmentand tips on when to seek treatment from speech-language pathologistsand audiologists. Return to Top |
