Editorial: Are you speaking my language? Raising awareness of language learning impairments in developmental psychopathology

Abstract

Language impairments affect 3–7% of the population (Norbury & Paul, 2013), yet receive very little public attention, research interest or research funding (Bishop, 2010). This is quite surprising given that language is central to our everyday lives; we use language to learn and to work, to communicate with our friends and loved ones and to access leisure activities such as reading and television. Additionally, language is a fantastic resource for problem solving, negotiating and managing our thoughts, feelings and behaviour.