What they are
It may happen that the child’s language is not always understandable, that they may have difficulty in recounting their experiences, especially regarding sentence construction or the use of sounds within words.
Language disorder is one of the most frequent issues that can be encountered in the development of children between 2 and 6 years of age. It can manifest as a Language Disorder (LD), which is a specific impairment of language ability that does not depend on other deficits, or as a secondary manifestation derived from another disorder, which can be neuro-motor (for example, delayed psychomotor development), cognitive (genetic syndrome), sensory (deafness), or behavioral (autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
How it manifests
Although there are traits that children with language disorders have in common, the expressions of this disorder are multiple and vary from child to child. It is essential to be able to recognize the manifestations of the disorder to correctly identify the need for specialist consultation.
Among the most frequent warning signs, the child:
- struggles to understand adult requests and language;
- does not use gestures or words to communicate;
- speaks but what they say is not understandable;
- speaks, but omits, adds, substitutes, or inverts consonants within words;
- produces and understands few words (limited vocabulary);
- constructs sentences poorly and lacks elements such as verbs, articles, prepositions;
- cannot recount simple events that have happened to them or tell stories.
How intervention is possible
The first step is to consult a team of specialists, primarily consisting of a speech therapist and a child neuropsychiatrist, who will assess the presence or absence of a language disorder and, if necessary, direct the family to further examinations.
If issues should emerge, once the child’s strengths and weaknesses have been identified, a therapeutic plan is formulated.
The intervention is not only focused on the child but also involves the family and school context. In fact, it intervenes on multiple levels:
- direct treatment with the child, at a frequency agreed upon at the time of drafting the therapeutic plan and periodically reassessed based on subsequent evaluations and needs;
- support for parents through consultations that provide guidance to better understand their child’s issues, to support the child’s language development, to identify the most appropriate educational approaches, and for emotional support;
- meetings with teachers to provide useful guidance for managing the child in the classroom.
Who our interventions are for
- Pre-school age children
- School-age children
- Parents
- Teachers
Bibliographic sources used
- fli.it
- Professional Profile of the Speech Therapist, Ministerial Decree September 14, 1994, n. 742
