What is specific language disorder?
Specific language disorder is a disorder that affects language acquisition and can become severe and long-lasting. It begins in infancy and can last into adolescence, with sequelae into adulthood.
This disorder can affect children who suffer from other developmental disorders. Therefore, language is developmentally conditioned and may encounter certain difficulties.
The symptoms are not the same in all patients.
Prognosis of SLD
Early diagnosis is important. When a child does not communicate in a similar way to children of the same age, professionals should be consulted. This can be observed from an early age, that is, if a baby does not communicate by looking at stimuli, does not make sounds, does not laugh… It means that there is a problem. This problem may not be of language acquisition, but may be deafness or even a neurological problem, for this reason, it is important to rule out these or other pathologies.
Symptoms of specific language disorder
The symptoms are not the same in all patients. In addition, they may overlap with other developmental pathologies, so that, in some cases, a time of evolution and response to treatment is important.
Among the most common symptoms, there are children who do not say any words until they are two years old. At the age of three they may speak but are not understood. As they grow older, they may have difficulty learning new words and conversing.
Medical tests for specific language disorder
It is difficult to identify this pathology in children under three years of age, even at this age, care must be taken when performing the evaluation. The physician performs a questionnaire and interacts with the child in a different way in order to obtain more information about its development. A number of tests may also be performed, including a hearing test. If the hearing tests are normal, the patient may be referred to a speech and language therapist.
What are the causes of specific language disorder?
The specific causes are unknown, but are related to limitations in the ability to identify sounds. In addition, there may also be a genetic component that causes this type of problem.
Can it be prevented?
Prevention is based on early diagnosis, i.e., visiting the speech therapist in case there is a history and/or risk of a language problem. In addition, it is important to avoid situations in which the child feels that he/she has a problem since due to pressure other language pathologies such as stuttering may develop.
Treatments for specific language disorder
There are different ways in which the treatment can be developed depending on the age of the patient. Specific language disorder is a pathology that is treated through language rehabilitation methods. In this case, medical treatments would be indicated to treat associated pathologies that can aggravate the linguistic picture such as hypoacusis and hypoacusis due to serous otitis, chronic otitis… It is important to work as a team between parents, teachers and doctors. Parents have to continue with the same exercises that are done in consultation. As for the school, they should be informed of the diagnosis that has been reached and the type of treatment that has been chosen.
The treatment consists of stimulating the acquisition of vocabulary through the design of different activities that help to improve communication skills. These activities can be of visual type, which will be easier for the patient to understand the contents.
Which specialist treats it?
The expert who treats this condition is the speech-language pathologist, a specialist in language disorders who is in charge of detecting, evaluating, diagnosing and treating language-related disorders.