Language Development and Communication Disorders in Children

Teacher Role in Language and DA

Teacher role: DA is also the result of the interaction between teacher–student–content. Prevention of DA is important. It can transform DA.

Methodological considerations

Considerations metedeologiques: unknown. Previous sequences of aprenentages (learning sequences). Not only cognitive but also affective and relational aspects. Several contexts: classroom, family, social. Principle of normalization and support for collaboration.

Language Development Stages

Language development (acquisition)

Preverbal period (up to 12 months, FISNA).

• First manifestations: crying (e.g., hunger).
• 3–4 months: babbling sounds.
• 6–8 months: imitation.
• 8 months: clear intentional behavior and reduction in emissions of certain phonemes (e.g., "ba", "ma", "ta").
• 9 months: communication with deictic gestures.

Linguistic stage (12 months to 4 years)

• 12 months–18 months: intentional first words; can say around 10 words.
• 18 months–2 years: first meaningful two-word sentences appear.
• 2–3 years: vocabulary expands from ~20–50 to ~1,000 words.
• 3 years: begins to use gender and number (genus-nombre).
• 4 years: language is considered acquired.

From 5 years onwards

From 5 years: By 5 years many aspects are more developed. Grammatical conjugation develops; by 6 years there is agreement between subject and verb. At 8–9 years, morphosyntactic development is not yet finished. At 9–10 years, comprehension and more advanced aspects continue to evolve.

Disorders of Communication

Disorders of communication include:

• Expressive language disorder.
• Mixed receptive–expressive language disorder.
• Phonological disorders.
• Quequeig (a term used in the source; see fluency section).
• Communication disorder not otherwise specified.

Delay of language (RDL)

DELAY OF LANGUAGE: Mainly affects expression; there are sometimes difficulties in understanding. Respecting theoretical evolutionary mechanisms and stages of development, educational intervention often leads to improvement with age.

Description

The following areas are affected:

• Production level: appearance of the first words until age 2; phonological simplification in speech; children with omissions of syllables and initial consonants.
• Semantic: vocabulary poverty; difficulty expressing abstract concepts and in naming (for example, colored shapes).
• Morphosyntactic: disorder in normal word-order sequencing; difficulty with complex sentences; difficulties using articles, plurals, tenses, etc.
• Pragmatic: does not take initiative to start conversations; often uses mime to compensate for oral language.

Differences: Dysphasia vs RDL

Differences between dysphasia and RDL:

• Dysphasia: always includes problems with understanding; RDL may have comprehension difficulties but not always.
• Dysphasia does not respect the typical developmental stages (PQ stages), whereas RDL respects the RDL stages.
• Dysphasia shows slower evolution, while RDL responds favorably to pedagogical interventions.
• Dysphasia can hinder keeping up with class and often causes academic problems; RDL typically does not cause the same level of scholastic difficulties.
• Dysphasia can be associated with other disorders; RDL is typically not associated with other disorders.
• Symptoms in dysphasia are generally more severe than in RDL.

Fluency and Rhythm Disorders

Fluency and rhythm disorders include:

• Bradilàlia (bradilalia): abnormally slow speech.
• Taquilàlia (taquilalia): rapid and hasty manner of speaking.
• Quequeig (stuttering / speech fluency disorder): characterized by sudden interruptions related to blocks and muscle spasms; it affects phonatory–respiratory coordination and articulatory movement.