Did you know that well over 80% of all learning disabilities are in reality language disorders? Children with communication problems can often appear lazy, angry, resentful, or depressed. They might act out or withdraw. They may be unable to get along with their peers, teachers, and family members because many of the requirements for language learning and communication - memory, processing, vocabulary, and organization are poor. These children can be misjudged,
misunderstood, misdiagnosed, mislabeled, or missed entirely because their underlying communication and learning issues have an overall negative impact on their personality and performance. Below are some symtpoms of communication and learning problems at different ages.
Birth to 2 years
1. poor eye gaze
2. using less than 50 words
3. attention problems
4. mouth breather, drooling
2-4 Years
1. unclear pronunciation of 3 or more sounds.
2. unusual voice quality
3. sentence word order problems
4. motor coordination poor
5. inability to follow 2-step directions
6. stuttering
7. little interaction with others
4-6 Years
1. poor articulation of 2 or more sounds
2. inability to follow 3-4 step directions
3. phonological awareness difficulty
4. inability to stay on topic
5. problems telling stories
6. lack of concepts
7. reading and/or writing problems
8. difficulty with peers
9. slow to process
7-9 Years
1. poor articulation of 1 or more sounds
2. speaking in only simple sentences or rarely speaking
3. not answering questions or asking them when confused
4. poor spelling and/or written language
5. difficulty following the flow of the classroom
6. difficulty with organization
7. General lack of understanding.
10-Adult
1. reading fluency difficulty
2. reading comprehension problems
3. inability to organize information
4. difficulty taking notes or understanding main ideas or new information
5. writing is confusing, fragmented, and has poor use of words
6. leaves listeners confused when speaking
7. difficulty with peers
8. using attetion getting behavior instead of words
9. does not finish work
10. unwillingness to express feelings
11.becoming a loner, showing agression, or becoming depressed.
For many children, over time emotional issues increase and may even surpass the underlying language disorder, eventually creating life problems.
