10 - Language Disabilities

Abstract

Children and adolescents with language disabilities form a large heterogeneous group, accounting for 10% to 20% of all children. Language disabilities can be the primary or secondary source of a student's exceptionality, and the impairments can involve different modalities, modes, and dimensions of the language system. There is an ongoing debate regarding how to identify language disabilities and differentiate between specific language impairment (SLI) and language differences as well as whether cognitive referencing is essential or even relevant in the comprehensive assessment of children and adolescents for language disabilities. The controversy of whether to adopt a neutralist perspective or a normative position for the assessment and identification of language disabilities extends into all branches of special education. From the perspective of the clinical or educational diagnostician, the performance patterns on those subtests that contribute to the Verbal Comprehension and Working Memory index scores are of immediate relevance. The Comprehension subtest requires students to give reasons, state the importance and advantages or disadvantages of their actions, characteristics or features, or social expectations for behavior. Students with Mixed Receptive-Expressive language disabilities generally have difficulties in expressing cause-effect relationships and moral judgments.