Module 2.1 Language and language frameworks
What is a language disorder?
A language disorder is an impairment in receptive or expressive language development, substantially below the child’s or young person’s non-verbal cognitive abilities. Language disorders interfere with academic and occupational achievement and social interaction. The severity of the language disorder cannot be accounted for by other conditions, such as intellectual disability, hearing impairment, environmental or emotional factors. Diagnosis of a language disorder is typically made by formal standardised assessment carried out by an interdisciplinary team of a speech pathologist and a psychologist.
Students with language disorder have difficulty in one or more areas of language:
- semantics: aspect of language that deals with meaning, concepts, vocabulary
- phonology: study of the sound system of a language
- morphology: the patterns of word formation in a language; how adding or deleting parts of words changes their meaning (e.g. plural s as in house/houses, past tense –ed, as in jump/jumped)
- syntax: arrangement of words in a phrase or sentence to indicate relationships of meaning
- pragmatics: social use, purpose and implied meaning of oral language.
Approximately 16 per cent of students (or 4 students in a class of 25 students) have language abilities significantly below the average range. The administration of standardised measures allows the language disorder to be categorised as mild, moderate or severe. Approximately 2 per cent of students have a severe language disorder.
Professional learning activities
- Use reflective learning techniques
Is the 4:25 ratio described above valid, based on your observations of children and young people in your class or school? Do you have any students that you believe have a ‘severe language disorder’? In which area/s of language is the disorder most observable? You might use your reflective journal to record your observations and thoughts.
Children and young people with severe language disorders are at great risk of developing learning disorders and experiencing lifelong difficulties. With targeted assistance, they can develop both language skills and compensatory strategies over time.
Characteristics of the disorder vary depending on its severity and the age of the student. Some commonly observed behaviours of students with language disorders are in Table 2.1.1 (PDF - 42Kb)