Specific Language Impairment

2038 Words9 Pages
Describe and explain what is meant by Specific Language Disorder. Specific language impairment is a language learning disorder in children with no other cognitive disabilities that can account for it. This essay will look at who specific language impairment affects, what the effects are, and the subtypes of specific language impairment. It will look at what causes the impairment and if anything can be done to help the people affected by it. ‘In addition to brain-damaged individuals who have lost their language ability, there are children without brain legions who nevertheless have difficulties in acquiring language or are much slower than the average child. They show no other cognitive deficits, they are not autistic or retarded, and they have no perceptual problems. Such children are suffering from specific language impairment (SLI).’ (Fromkin, 2003.) Many children with specific language impairment are late talkers, although not all children who begin to talk late have an impairment. The late talking is usually a sign of a language learning disorder of some sort. Once children do start to talk it becomes clearer if there is impairment present. Currently it is believed that 7% of children suffer from specific language impairment. (Van Der Lely{2005,p53-59}) As the child develops, if there is an impairment tests will be carried out to see if they have any other cognitive defects, such as autism, or if there are any physical explanations, such as an inner ear problem, or deafness, which can impact the child’s ability to learn language. Once all the developmental and environmental factors are ruled out, the child is diagnosed with specific language impairment. Often, language impairment can disappear by the time the time the child reaches school-going age, around 4-6, and the child’s language will develop normally, but for the children who reach school-going age
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